Ocean Observatory Program Completes Sea Equipment Test

In an effort to study the ocean over months and even years scientists and engineers are leaving instruments in the ocean secured by wires, buoys, weights, and floats, also known as the moored observatory. Each approach has advanced our understanding of the oceans and their interaction with the Earth and the atmosphere. Because of advances in computing, telecommunications, and marine architecture, researchers no longer want to just observe the ocean for short periods in small places. Ocean observatories explore fundamental questions using acoustic modems, fiber optic cables that stretch beneath the ocean for miles, and satellite communications. Sustaining these operations for months or years at a time help scientists observe how the Earth, ocean and atmosphere evolve. Researchers collect data from the observatories from shore based locations that may be hundreds of miles away allowing scientists to disseminate their research in real-time with colleagues, educators and policy makers. Recently an at sea equipment test was completed through the Ocean Observatory Initiative (OOI) Program. The equipment recovery cruise on board the R/V Knorr recovered all of the deployed equipment successfully and will begin post-deployment testing and evaluation. The three test moorings involved were placed at two locations off of Cape Cod, Ma. The moorings included a surface mooring and a moored profiler placed at one location with the third mooring placed at a depth of 2480 meters (8136 feet). The three moorings incorporate many of the design elements of the moorings to be used in the Coastal and Global Scale Nodes of the OOI and represent an important component of the program. The Coastal and Global Scale Nodes component of the OOI is being developed and constructed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Oregon State University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In addition the Research Vessel Knorr’s capabilities were used to map the seafloor in the regions in which the moorings of the planned coastal array, the Pioneer Array, will be deployed.  This mapping provides key information to finalize the mooring designs, plan the cruises to deploy and maintain the Pioneer Array, and to complete plans for the Pioneer Array.