The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a major research facility funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The construction and initial operation of the OOI network was supported through a cooperative agreement awarded to the Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL). COL was responsible for OOI program management and oversight while the OOI infrastructure was constructed and operated by major sub-awardees including: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

COL is comprised of stakeholders including U.S. academic institutions, charitable and not-for-profit organizations, and private sector organizations all committed to the advancement of ocean science and technology. This wide and varied network of partners allowed COL to act as a collective impact organization, bringing the best and brightest minds from all sectors across the country to design, build and operate the complex, groundbreaking OOI. COL’s membership and organizational structure give it unique capabilities beyond that of any one academic institution to effectively manage multi-stakeholder science programs of this magnitude.

The OOI employs a network of globally distributed sensors measuring physical, chemical, geological, and biological properties of the ocean from the seafloor to the surface in real- and near-real-time. It is maintained and operated to collect data to improve understanding of coastal, open-ocean, and seafloor systems. OOI data contribute to research on the impacts of climate change, ecosystem variability, the ocean’s role in the global carbon cycle, and linkages among seafloor volcanism and life.

As originally commissioned, the OOI was a network of seven arrays located across the North and South Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins, including one Cabled Array, two Coastal Arrays, and four Global Arrays. The OOI marine instrumented infrastructure included 41 moorings, 20 seafloor packages, up to 32 buoyancy-driven gliders, and 2 propeller-driven Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). Over 800 instruments representing 75 models of specialized instrumentation provided unique data and information, including more than 40,000 unique streams of data and seafloor high-definition video and still images. Since commissioning, two of the seven arrays (the only two in the southern hemisphere) were deactivated to meet specific budgetary reductions directed by Congress.

The OOI provides free access to its data for a vast user community of oceanographers, scientists, educators, students, and the public. Data from the OOI are either streamed in real-time through fiber-optic cables or uploaded via broadband satellite to operation centers on each coast and then transferred to the OOI Cyberinfrastructure (CI) for processing, storage, and dissemination in near-real-time.

Multiple OOI online interfaces permit 24/7 connectivity and bring sustained ocean observing data to a user on any computer or mobile device via the underlying web-based interface (OOINET), which also connects and enables the analysis coordination of operations of all OOI marine components in concert with scientific and educational pursuits of oceanographic research communities.

The OOI provides a unique architecture of oceanographic instruments for scientific collaboration around the world. Targeted efforts were made to engage the scientific community with OOI data and resources. The OOI attended conferences, presented webinars, and hosted workshops. In particular, the workshops provided invaluable engagement with scientists across the ocean community. Several of the most meaningful workshops conducted revolved around engaging early career scientists to familiarize them with OOI data and foster a community of practice around its unique capabilities. This type of engagement must continue for the OOI to achieve the grand scope of ocean science community interest originally envisioned.

In addition to seeking engagement and promoting collaboration among individual scientists, the OOI has sought integration and collaboration across other observing programs and systems around the world. To that end, OOI data have been made available through several existing data repositories and have been integrated into existing and evolving global and regional visualizations. This allows OOI data not only to be viewed in the greater context of ocean information from other sources, but also increases its accessibility through multiple avenues, including the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS) Visualization System, the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARACOOS) Ocean Map, the IOOS Glider Data Assembly Center (DAC), the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Global Telecommunication System (GTS) via the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), OceanSITES, and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS).

While the OOI represents many significant breakthrough achievements in ocean science and technology, it remains to be seen if the results of research conducted with data from the OOI will justify the overall cost of the program. Oceanographic data that can be provided from lower cost, in-situ ocean observing instruments such as Argo floats and ocean gliders has proven to be of significant scientific and economic value to the United States and the global ocean community. Such value determinations for prior and ongoing investments in the OOI will take time, and growth in the user base is critical.

Last Modified: 11/25/2019
Modified by: Kristen Yarincik