NC- State coast new home for complex ocean-observing system
Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists and engineers are on their way to deploy test moorings off the coast of Nags Head to better understand conditions before relocating the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Pioneer Array ocean-observing system, which most recently was collecting data about 75 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative, which provides free access to a wide range of data collected from around the world’s oceans, is funded by the National Science Foundation through a cooperative agreement with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an independent nonprofit dedicated to ocean research, exploration and education and based in Massachusetts.
“This new Pioneer Array location in the MAB offers many opportunities for scientists to obtain data to further their research, and will provide better insight into conditions in the area for a variety of stakeholders,” Al Plueddemann, project scientist for Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Coastal and Global Scale Nodes group at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said in a statement. “We welcome researchers, educators, and industry members to reach out to us to explore ways we might work together to maximize the usefulness of the data.”
The data collected by observing the ocean can help track, predict, manage and adapt to changes in the marine environment and coastal communities can use the data to prepare for floods and other natural disasters, according to the initiative.
The science team headed out Tuesday on the research vessel Neil Armstrong for a test mooring and mapping cruise for the Pioneer Array Mid-Atlantic Bight, or MAB, from where the vessel was in dry dock for a hull inspection at Detyens Shipyard in North Charleston, South Carolina, according to a blog post Tuesday on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution website.
The Ocean Observatories Initiative, which provides free access to a wide range of data collected from around the world’s oceans, is funded by the National Science Foundation through a cooperative agreement with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an independent nonprofit dedicated to ocean research, exploration and education and based in Massachusetts.
“This new Pioneer Array location in the MAB offers many opportunities for scientists to obtain data to further their research, and will provide better insight into conditions in the area for a variety of stakeholders,” Al Plueddemann, project scientist for Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Coastal and Global Scale Nodes group at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said in a statement. “We welcome researchers, educators, and industry members to reach out to us to explore ways we might work together to maximize the usefulness of the data.”
