Award: OCE-1743430

The U.S. NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) provides critical infrastructure and continuous ocean data to support scientific discovery. The data is available free of charge to all users. By maintaining and operating a network of global, coastal and cabled arrays, OOI enables researchers to investigate key ocean processes. These arrays are comprised of surface and subsurface moorings, profilers, bottom landers, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), gliders, cabled moorings and seafloor nodes. The Regional Cabled Array uses the seafloor cables and nodes to deliver near real-time data on Axial Seamount’s volcanic activity, supplying valuable seismic and hydrothermal information for scientific analysis. In coastal regions on the east and west coast, the OOI maintains multi-platform arrays supporting physical and biogeochemical sensors providing measurements to investigate, e.g., marine ecosystems, CO₂ exchange, carbon cycling, oceanic heat waves and acidification. Long-term time series from the global arrays in the Irminger Sea, Gulf of Alaska, Argentine Basin, and Southern Ocean allow researchers to investigate the role of the ocean in climate variability under extreme conditions.  Note that OOI personnel are not funded by NSF to conduct research.  Instead, the mission of the OOI is to provide investigators with research quality data to address six interdisciplinary science themes developed by the scientific community:

• Ocean-Atmosphere Exchange
• Climate Variability, Ocean Circulation, Ecosystems
• Turbulent Mixing and Biophysical Interactions
• Coastal Ocean Dynamics and Ecosystems
• Fluid-Rock Interactions & Sub-Seafloor Biosphere
• Plate-scale Geodynamics

The OOI arrays are designed to address one or more of these themes.  Other themes have certainly been investigated using OOI data and infrastructure.

The OOI data delivery and quality control systems have been continuously improved with input from the user community since it became operational in 2016. The current version of the observatories began in FY 2019 as OOI 2.0 when the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and its subawardees at the University of Washington (UW) and Oregon State University (OSU) took over operations and maintenance of the infrastructure.  The OOI Data Center located at OSU became operational in 2021 and maintains state-of-the-art cyberinfrastructure for our growing user community. The OOI provides additional support through its operation and maintenance . This includes the ability to add instrumentations from external PIs.  The OOI also provides opportunities for users to take advantage of turn-around cruises to collect additional data for their own research

The OOI has built national and international partnerships during OOI 2.0, which include NSF’s Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) in the Irminger Sea, significant collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in the UK, and a strong partnership with Ocean Networks Canada. The OOI has also worked with industry partners to take advantage of our infrastructure for instrument development and testing.  The OOI has also worked extensively with our vendors to improved their sensors and our data quality.

Through its long-term, open access datasets, OOI plays a vital role in advancing ocean science, empowering researchers, educators, policymakers and the general public with the resources needed to drive new discoveries and improve ocean monitoring and forecasting.  This research has resulted in 202 publications that use OOI data and another 139 publications that mention OOI during the 2018 to 2023 calendar years that cover OOI 2.0. The publications that use OOI data were written by 174 distinct authors at 93 distinct institutions from 20 countries.  Support for this research is largely provided by the NSF with significant support from other Federal Agencies (e.g., NOAA, ONR and NASA), Foundations and other Countries. The NSF support has included several CAREER Awards.

The skillful operation of the infrastructure and cyberinfrastructure of OOI 2.0 was recognized in 2022 with an opportunity to renew our Cooperative Agreement with the NSF. Visit https://oceanobservatories.org/ to access our data and learn more about OOI 2.5.

Last Modified: 07/25/2025
Modified by: James B Edson