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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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Suggested Citation:"1 Introduction." National Research Council. 2003. Enabling Ocean Research in the 21st Century: Implementation of a Network of Ocean Observatories. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10775.
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1 Introduction Historically, oceanographers have relied largely on ship-based expe- ditionary studies to map, observe, and sample the oceans. This mode of investigation led to the discovery of the importance of a wide range of physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes over the two- thirds of the Earth's surface that is covered by water. Oceanographers have learned that the oceans circulate vast quantities of heat that control our weather and climate. Sediments formed from organisms living in ocean surface waters are now known to contain an invaluable record of past climate change and to help regulate the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Although vast expanses of the deep ocean are still largely unexplored, the diversity of life within the oceans and below the seafloor surpasses that of any other ecosystem on the planet. Most of the active volcanoes and fault systems on Earth either lie beneath the oceans or are located along their margins. Previously unknown forms of life, possibly linked to the beginning of life on Earth, have been discovered at hydro- thermal vents on the deep seafloor. Today's society is increasingly dependent on the oceans. The oceans themselves provide a highway for most international commerce and food for our tables. The sediments along continental margins harbor most of our remaining stores of oil and gas. More than half of the population of the U.S. lives within an hour's drive of the ocean, and find it a source of both recreation and beauty, but these coastal communities are increas- ingly vulnerable to the storms, erosion, and sea level variations that con- stantly affect this dynamic boundary between the land and the sea. 13

14 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY As the oceans have grown more important to society, so has the need to understand their variations on many temporal and spatial scales. This need to understand change in the oceans is compelling oceanographers to move beyond the traditional expeditionary mode of investigation to make sustained, in situ observations in the oceans and on the seafloor. A report on the future of ocean science in the U.S., Ocean Sciences at the New Millen- nium concluded: The lack of extensive, more-or-less continuous time-series measurements in the oceans is probably one of the most serious impediments to under- standing of long-term trends and cyclic changes in the oceans and in global climate, as well as episodic events such as major earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or submarine landslides. (National Science Founda- tion, 2001, p. 151) Ocean-observing systems would enable Earth and ocean scientists to study ocean processes over timescales ranging from seconds to decades and spatial scales from millimeters to thousands of kilometers. Such sys- tems would provide the scientific basis for addressing important societal concerns such as climate change, natural hazards, and the health and sustainability of the living and non-living resources of the world's coasts and oceans. A variety of technological approaches can be used to observe the oceans. Satellites provide global coverage of the ocean's surface, measur- ing sea-surface temperature, winds, and elevation; the bathymetry and bottom substrate of the coastal oceans; and, through ocean color, the phy- toplankton population of the upper ocean. Acoustic thermometry can provide basin-scale measurements of ocean temperature variations. New generations of subsurface floats, gliders, and drifters will provide broad spatial coverage of ocean properties on a global scale. Measurements of air-sea interaction and ocean properties made at surface and subsurface moorings are providing an essential in situ, fixed reference for determin- ing longer-term changes. Submarine, cable-based observatories could sup- ply unprecedented levels of power, data bandwidth, and two-way com- munication to instruments located anywhere from the seafloor to the sea surface. These existing and emerging observing technologies, have con- verged with the development of new sensors for making in situ meas- urements, major advances in telecommunications technology, and vast increases in computational and modeling capabilities to offer an unprec- edented opportunity to establish long-term ocean-observing systems that promise to fundamentally change the manner in which ocean science is conducted in the coming decades. A recent report from the National Research Council (NRC) entitled Illuminating the Hidden Planet: The Future of Seafloor Observatory Science

INTRODUCTION 15 (2000) highlighted the need for long-term, fixed ocean observatory sites for conducting basic research into a broad range of scientific questions. "Seafloor observatories" are defined as "unmanned system of instru- ments, sensors, and command modules connected either acoustically or via a seafloor junction box to a surface buoy or a fiber optic cable to land"(National Research Council, 2000, p. 1~. To quote the report: Seafloor observatories could offer Earth and ocean scientists unique new opportunities to study multiple, interrelated processes over time scales ranging from seconds to decades; to conduct comparative studies of regional processes and spatial characteristics; and to map whole-earth and basin-scale structures. The scientific problems driving the need for seafloor observatories are broad in scope, spanning nearly every major area of marine science. (National Research Council, 2000, p. 2) Many of the fundamental scientific research questions that could be facilitated by ocean observatories have been identified in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Ocean Sciences Division's long-range "Futures" reports (Baker and McNutt, 1996; Royer and Young, 1998; fumars and Hay, 1999; Mayer and Druffel, 1999), in the report Ocean Sciences at the New Millennium (National Science Foundation, 2001), in Illuminating the Hidden Planet: The Future of Seafloor Observatory Science (National Research Council, 2000), and in a number of community planning documents (Ap- pendix C). These scientific problems include: · determining the role of the ocean in climate change; · quantifying the exchange of heat, water, momentum and gases between the ocean and atmosphere; · determining the cycling of carbon in the oceans and the role of the oceans in moderating the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide; lion; · improving models of ocean mixing and large-scale ocean circula- · understanding the patterns and controls on biological diversity in the oceans; · determining the origin, development and impact of episodic coastal events such as harmful algal blooms; · assessing the health of the coastal ocean; · determining the nature and extent of microbial life in the deep crustal biosphere; · studying subduction zone thrust faults that may result in large, tsunami-generating earthquakes; and · improving models of global earth structure and core-mantle dy- namics.

16 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION'S OCEAN OBSERVATORIES INITIATIVE In order to provide the ocean sciences research community in the U.S. with access to the basic infrastructure required to make long-term mea- surements in the oceans, the NSF's Ocean Sciences Division has devel- oped the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The OOI is an outgrowth of community-wide scientific planning efforts, both national and interna- tional, and builds upon recent technological advances, experience with existing observatories, and several successful pilot projects. As they ma- ture, the research-focused observatories enabled by the OOI would be networked into and become an integral part of the proposed Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observing System (IOOS) (Ocean.US, 2002b). This operationally-focused system, which receives support from several agen- cies, is a key U.S. contribution to the international Global Ocean Observ- ing System (GOOS). The observatory network proposed under the OOI will provide cut- ting-edge capabilities to the IOOS and the research community. These observatory sites will complement other elements of the IOOS, such as the Argo profiling floats, and will expand the area of the ocean and sea- floor beyond that now accessible through existing time-series sampling methods, such as the moorings used in the National Oceanic and Atmo- spheric Administration (NOAA)-funded Tropical-Atmosphere-Ocean (TAO) array (Appendix D). Much of the data from OOI sites will be available in near-real-time and will feed into ongoing ocean data assimi- lation and prediction efforts such as the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) as well as driving new scientific research. The infrastructure provided to research scientists through the OOI will include the cables, buoys, deployment platforms, moorings, and junc- tion boxes required for power and two-way data communication to a wide variety of sensors at the sea surface, in the water column, and at or below the seafloor. The initiative also includes project management, data dissemination and archiving, and education and outreach components essential to the long-term success of ocean observatory science. A fully operational research observatory system would be expected to meet most of the following goals: · continuous observations at time scales of seconds to decades, · spatial measurements from millimeters to kilometers, · sustained operations during storms and other severe conditions, · real-time or near-real-time data as appropriate, · two-way transmission of data and remote instrument control, · power delivery to sensors between the sea surface and the seafloor, · standard Plug-n-Play sensor interface protocols,

INTRODUCTION · autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) docks for data download and battery recharge, · access to deployment and maintenance vehicles that satisfy the needs of specific observatories, · facilities for instrument maintenance and calibration, · a data management system that makes data publicly available, and · an effective education and outreach program. The OOI, as presently envisioned, will have three primary compo- nents: (1) a global network of deep-sea moored buoys, (2) a regional-scale cabled observatory, and (3) an expanded network of coastal observato- ries. Global Observatories The global observatory component of the OOI design includes a net- work of 15-20 moored buoys, linked to shore via satellite. These buoys support sensors for measurement of air-sea fluxes; physical, biological, and chemical water column properties; and geophysical observations on the seafloor. Such moorings, designed to make interdisciplinary measure- ments at a common site, are a unique aspect of this component of the OOI program (Plate 1~. Some moored systems may occupy sites indefinitely; others will be relocatable in order to study processes in different parts of the world's oceans or for rapid deployment of power and bandwidth resources in response to transient events. Many of the buoys will be spe- cifically designed for operation at high latitudes, especially those in the Southern Ocean. This network of fixed ocean observatories is designed to contribute to studies of the ocean's role in climate change by providing a four-dimensional view of variations in oceanographic properties and air- sea interactions on a global scale. This network also seeks to improve understanding of the structure and dynamics of the Earth's interior by expanding the international Global Seismic Network (GSN) into those areas of the oceans lacking island stations, and could become a compo- nent of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Hydroacoustic data collection system. Relocatable moorings will be used to study Earth and ocean pro- cesses where they are most active, such as across major ocean current systems, in regions of high biological productivity, or along volcanically and seismically active geological plate boundaries. Regional-Scale Cabled Observatory The second element of the OOI is a cabled observatory that will pro- vide the first comprehensive set of long-term measurements of geological

18 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY and oceanographic processes on a regional scale. For example, a regional- scale observatory could observe a tectonic plate encompassing all of the major types of plate boundaries-spreading center, transform fault, and subduction zone. This observatory system would use electrical/fiber-optic cables to provide unprecedented levels of electrical power and real-time two-way communication between a shore station and instrumented seaf- loor nodes, allowing for real-time and interactive investigation of physi- cal, chemical, and biological processes occurring over many scales of space and time (Figure 1-1~. A variety of measurement systems have been pro- posed for the seafloor nodes, including: (1) bottom-fixed sensor packages for geophysical measurements or geological observations; (2) instruments for in situ biological and chemical measurements on the seafloor and in the water column; (3) cameras and real-time video; (4) instrumented bot- FIGURE 1-1 Concept of a regional cabled observatory being developed for the OOI. Land-based scientists, educators, decision-makers, and the general public are interactively linked in real-time with sensors on or below the seafloor or in the overlying ocean via a fiber-optic/electrical cable that provides two-way data communication (Gb/s) and power (kW) between a shore station and an array of seafloor nodes over a regional area. Image provided courtesy of the NEPTUNE Project (www.neptune.washington.edu) and produced by Paul Zibton.

INTRODUCTION 19 tom tripods; (5) winched, buoyancy-controlled or wire-crawling profilers, and subsurface and surface moorings for vertical measurements through- out the water column; (6) instruments for deployment within boreholes below the seafloor; and (7) AUV docking ports and acoustic communica- tion and navigation networks for enhancing spatial sampling (Plate 2) (NEPTUNE Phase 1 Partners, 2000; Dickey and Glenn, 2003~. A regional observatory would have close links to other major geoscience programs such as Ridge 2000, MARGINS, and EarthScope (Appendix B). Coastal Observatories The OOI will enhance and expand existing and planned networks of coastal observatories in the U.S., providing an important research compo- nent of the Coastal Global Ocean Observing System (C-GODS) whose primary mission is to serve operational oceanographic needs (see Chapter 6 for a detailed discussion of the relationship between OOI and IOOS/ GOOS and the differences between operational and research-driven ob- servatories). The coastal component of the OOI would provide new op- portunities for research in areas such as the variability of large-scale coastal ocean circulation, material mass balances (e.g., nutrient and car- bon budgets), ecosystem studies, and coastal morphology and beach ero- sion. These observatories are particularly important because they will facilitate basic research on episodic and extreme events in the coastal ocean. Such research will improve predictions of harmful algal blooms or storm-related coastal erosion, improve the accuracy of regional coastal models and forecasts, and assess the magnitude and quality of anthropo- genic effects on the coastal ocean. A variety of methods will be employed to gather data in the coastal region, including moored buoys, cables, sur- face radars, AUVs, airborne sensors, and ships (Plate 3~. Funding of the Ocean Observatories Initiative Funding for the OOI is being sought through the NSF's Major Re- search Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account. This agency-wide capital assets account was established to provide funding for major science and engineering infrastructure with costs that range from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. Over five years, approxi- mately $200 million is expected to be available through the OOI for con- struction and installation of coastal, regional, and global ocean observato- ries and critical shore-based facilities (e.g., data distribution and archiving centers). According to the NSF Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 budget request, released in February 2003, funding for the OOI is slated to begin in FY 2006 and

20 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY runs through FY 2010 (Figure 1-2~. In its budget request, the NSF stated that it expects to spend approximately $14.2 million in concept and engi- neering development activities through FY2003 and will spend an addi- tional $1.3 million on these activities through FY 2005. The total five-year construction costs for the OOI are budgeted at $208 million, beginning in FY2006. Maintenance and operation of the observatory infrastructure ac- quired through the OOI MREFC will be supported by the NSF's Ocean Sciences Division Research & Related Activities account. In its FY 2004 budget request, the NSF projected that these costs would ramp up to $10 million per year by FY 2011. Science programs utilizing the observatory infrastructure are expected to be funded by the NSF and a variety of other agencies that support basic research in the oceans (e.g., NOAA, the Office of Naval Research [ONR], and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- ministration NASA. Management and Oversight of the Ocean Observatories Initiative The NSF has proposed a management structure for the acquisition and implementation phase of the OOI based on the structure that has been used successfully by the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) for many years. Following that model, management, coordination, and oversight of the OOI will be the responsibility of the Executive Director of a central- ized OOI Program Office, to be established through a cooperative agree- _~ Concept/Development 80 Implementation ~ ~~ Operations & Maintenance 70 u, 60 50- ° 40- .° 30 . _ ~ 20 — 10 = _ i O ~ _~— I —~ (N~N~ ~ ~ 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Fiscal Year FIGURE 1-2 OOI funding profile from the FY 2004 NSF Budget Request. Figure reprinted from the National Science Foundation's Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction FY 2004 Budget Request (2002~.

INTRODUCTION 21 ment with the NSF. This Director will be accountable to an Executive Committee, which in turn will be advised by various scientific and tech- nical advisory committees whose membership will be comprised of in- dividuals with expertise in ocean-observing science and engineering. Experiments utilizing the OOI infrastructure will be selected on a peer- review basis. The OOI Program Office also will be responsible for coordi- nation with the U.S. IOOS as well as other international ocean-observing programs. COMMUNITY INPUT TO OCEAN OBSERVATORIES INITIATIVE PLANNING A number of recent and on-going community-wide scientific plan- ning workshops provide the foundation for the development of the OOI (Appendix C). The workshops most directly tasked with providing input to the OOI are described below and include the Dynamics of Earth and Ocean Systems (DEOS), the NorthEast Pacific Time-series Undersea Net- worked Experiments (NEPTUNE), and the Global Eulerian Observatory (GEO) Time-series Program as well as two recent workshops, one tasked to focus on cabled observatories (the Scientific Cabled Observatories for Time-series [SCOTS] Workshop) and the other tasked to address coastal observatories (the Coastal Ocean Processes [CoOP] Observatory Science Workshop). Dynamics of Earth and Ocean Systems The DEOS Steering Committee was established in 1997 under the auspices of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), with funding from NSF. The DEOS mission is to provide a focus for coordinated scientific planning for the establishment of a network of research-based ocean observatories, to advise the NSF on technical speci- fications and management issues, and to explore the new opportunities for education and public outreach activities offered by ocean-observatory systems. DEOS arose out of the marine geosciences community's need to make long-term observations in conjunction with major marine geosciences re- search programs such as the ODE, Ridge InterDisciplinary Global Experi- ment (RIDGE) and MARGINS (See Appendix B). The planning effort was subsequently broadened to include physical oceanographers, chemists, and biologists to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of any ocean observa- tory program. DEOS has developed a strategy to implement a research- based seafloor observatory system emphasizing the pursuit of two tech- nologically distinct approaches:

22 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY (1) Seafloor observatories linked with submarine cables to land and the Inter- net. These are of two types: (a) those using retired telecommunications cables that may become available in regions of current scientific interest, possible only on an opportunistic basis; and (b) those specifically de- ployed as scientific cables in a few selected locations where critical Earth and oceanographic processes are most active and proximal to land. An example of the latter is NEPTUNE, a proposed cabled observatory cross- ing the Cascadian margin and subduction zone and spanning the entire fuan de Fuca tectonic plate (NEPTUNE Phase 1 Partners, 2000~. The NEP- TUNE concept has stimulated an extensive scientific and technical plan- ning effort that has laid the groundwork for the establishment of regional, cabled observatories in a variety of settings (e.g., Dickey and Glenn, 2003~. (2) Moored-buoy observatories providing power to seafloor instruments and a satellite communication link to land and the Internet. These moorings will require annual servicing and could be deployed either: (a) permanently, to complete the distribution of a global observatory network, or (b) for periods of up to a few years in locations where process-oriented problems can be addressed without a permanent installation. Examples of the latter might include earthquake studies in subduction zone settings, investiga- tions of cross-shelf and along-shelf sediment transport in different coastal settings, or studies of the interannual variability of major ocean current systems. DEOS has overseen a number of community scientific and engineer- ing planning activities. In December 1999, DEOS published a working group report on the scientific rationale for a global network of moored buoys (DEOS Global Working Group, 1999~. The DEOS Moored Buoy Ob- servatory Design Study, published in August 2000, examined the scientific requirements, technical feasibility, and potential costs associated with specific mooring designs. These designs include (1) a low-bandwidth dis- cus buoy system that uses acoustic modems to transfer data from instru- ments on the mooring or the seafloor to the buoy and that is linked to shore via satellite and (2) a high-bandwidth design utilizing a large spar or discus buoy equipped with a 64 kb/s C-band satellite system, power generators on the buoy, and an electro-optical-mechanical cable to deliver power and two-way data communication to a junction box on the sea- floor. DEOS has coordinated its planning efforts with the Time-series Sci- ence Team of the Ocean Observing Panel for Climate (OOPC) and the NEPTUNE group, the latter has proposed a plate-scale cabled observa- tory in the Northeast Pacific on the fuan de Fuca plate. DEOS has also coordinated with COOS, which is developing plans for the deployment of a global network of moored buoy systems for multi-disciplinary science.

FIGURE l-1 One component ofthe Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOl) is a global network of~15-20 moored buoys linker! to shore via satellite that support measurements of air-sea fluxes, physical, biological, and chemical water properties, ant! geophysical observations on or below the seafloor. Figure courtesy of John Orcutt, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 23

24 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY the international COOS. The GEO program proposes to make time-series measurements with high vertical and temporal resolution from the ocean- atmosphere boundary layer down through the ocean mixed layer and into the deep sea, on time scales ranging from minutes to years. Time- series stations at select sites are seen as a key element of in situ observa- tions of the global ocean, providing continuous data at select sites to complement the Argo floats, remote satellite sensing of sea surface prop- erties, and essential reference information on the relatively slowly chang- ing properties of the deeper ocean. The GEO time-series program is an essential component of both the international Climate Variability and Predictability Programme (CLIVAR) and the Carbon Cycle program. GEO will also be an important element of the GODAE, an international pro- gram to combine in situ and satellite ocean observations with profiling float data from the Argo program and numerical circulation models to determine ocean dynamics and variability over time. Scientific Cabled Observatories for Time-series Workshop In August 2002, the NSF sponsored a workshop to define the scien- tific problems that would require or be most effectively addressed by cabled observatory networks (Dickey and Glenn, 2003~. Workshop par- ticipants also reviewed the status of cabled observatory and related tech- nologies in order to provide context for this activity. The workshop report concluded that cabled observatories would enable new classes of scien- tific questions to be addressed because of their ability to (1) supply power sufficient for energy demanding sensors and systems, (2) sample at high data rates for long periods, (3) collect a large number of virtually continu- ous and diverse measurements over different spatial scales for unprec- edented interdisciplinary coherence analyses, and (4) communicate the full datasets to shore in real-time. The final report makes several recom- mendations including: · encouraging cabled observatory development in all three domains (global, regional, and coastal); · pursuing means to relocate retired telecommunication cables to fill in gaps in a global, deep-earth imaging observatory network; · pursuing technologies for deploying coastal scientific nodes along cables running to deep-water observatories; · testing and development of a variety of sensors and technologies (e.g., sensor suites, AUV docking stations, communication systems, etc.~; · establishing standards for instrument interfacing, data distribu- tion, and management policies;

INTRODUCTION 25 · accelerating development of new autonomous sensors and sys- tems; · assessing the availability and capability of remotely operated ve- hicles (ROVs); · integrating cabled observatories with other observational pro- grams; · modeling components; · balancing funding expenditures between infrastructure and experi- mental assets; and · implementing a governance structure with clear lines of responsi- bility, authority and accountability, and scientific involvement (Dickey and Glenn, 2003~. Coastal Ocean Processes and Observatory Science Workshop The CoOP Observatory Science Workshop was convened in May 2002 to provide focus and direction for the development of the coastal observa- tory component of the OOI. In particular, the more than 60 participants were charged with identifying research topics that can best be studied using coastal observing systems, current capabilities critical to those re- search topics, and areas for coastal observatory development that would provide the greatest benefit to coastal research. The resulting report concluded that coastal observatories will pro- vide fundamental new opportunities for research in a variety of areas, including: · integrated, synoptic, large-scale measurements of coastal ocean processes; · interactions between physical and biological systems; · material mass balances such as nutrient and carbon budgets; · coastal biogeochemistry; · beach erosion and cross-shelf sediment transport; · impacts of episodic and extreme events (e.g., storms, toxic algal blooms); and · the human impact on ecosystems (lahnke et al., 2002~. The coastal observatory system envisioned will be comprised of three basic observing components: (1) fixed, region-specific observatories; (2) a widely-spaced distributed set of moorings that will span and link differ- ent coastal regions; and (3) relocatable or "Pioneer" arrays that would be targeted for specific, process-oriented research studies. Given the budget- ary constraints provided at the workshop, the report recommended that

26 ENABLING OCEAN RESEARCH IN THE 2 lST CENTURY Pioneer research arrays constitute the principal OOI contribution to the coastal observatory infrastructure, complementing and enhancing the operational backbone of coastal observatory infrastructure as envisioned by IOOS. Each Pioneer Array would be comprised of 30-40 sensor moor- ings, and would be dedicated to a particular process-oriented study and deployed for periods of three to five years, after which they would be relocated to a different area. PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY There has been significant progress in the scientific planning and technical development of ocean observatories since the report Illuminat- ing the Hidden Planet (National Research Council, 2000) recommended that the NSF move forward with the planning and implementation of a seafloor observatory program. As a result, in the fall of 2002, the NSF asked the NRC to conduct a follow-up study to develop an implementa- tion plan for the establishment of a network of seafloor observatories to be used for multidisciplinary ocean research. This network will include both cabled seafloor nodes and moored buoys, located in both coastal and open-ocean areas. The study will describe the strategies needed to carry out the priority science identified in existing reports. In particular, the NRC was charged to: · provide advice on the design, construction, management, opera- tion, and maintenance of the network, including the need for scientific oversight and planning, appropriately phased implementation, data man- agement, and education and outreach activities; · examine the impact of ocean observatories on the University-Na- tional Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet and current sub- mersibles and ROV/AUV assets in the research community; and · examine the potential role of NSF's research-based observatory network within the IOOS and other international efforts being developed and implemented primarily for operational purposes. In arriving at its findings and recommendations the study committee was to consider recent reports that outline ocean science research priori- ties, existing observatory strategies and implementation plans, and input from the ocean research community. REPORT STRUCTURE This report contains seven chapters and five appendixes. Chapter 2 outlines the lessons learned from existing ocean observatories that can

INTRODUCTION serve as valuable experience in 27 planning for current and future efforts. Chapter 3 discusses the status of planning for proposed research-oriented global, regional, and coastal observatories, based on recent reports and workshops listed in Appendix C. Chapter 4 addresses a variety of issues related to the implementation of a research-based ocean observatory net- work, including program management, infrastructure, sensor needs, con- struction and installation (including phasing scenarios), operations and maintenance, data management, and education and outreach. Chapter 5 discusses related facility needs for an ocean observatory network such as ships and deep-submergence assets, as well as the role of industry in providing facilities or services for the observatory program. Chapter 6 explores the relationship of NSF's OOI to the IOOS and other national and international ocean-observing systems. Chapter 7 summarizes the major findings and recommendations of the report. Appendix A contains biographical information on the Implementa- tion of a Seafloor Observatory Network for Oceanographic Research Com- mittee members. Appendix B contains a list of acronyms and a glossary of technical terms used in this report. A list of workshops and workshop reports consulted for this report is contained in Appendix C. Appendix D contains information on the ocean-observation programs mentioned in this report. Appendix E provides a table of sites chosen for global time- series measurements.

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As the importance of the oceans to society grows, so does the need to understand their variation on many temporal and spatial scales. This need to understand ocean change is compelling scientists to move beyond traditional expeditionary modes of investigation. Observing systems will enable the study of processes in the ocean basins over varying timescales and spatial scales, providing the scientific basis for addressing important societal concerns such as climate change, natural hazards, and the health and viability of living and non-living resources along our coasts and in the open ocean.

The book evaluates the scientific and technical readiness to move ahead with the establishment of a research-driven ocean observatory network, and highlights outstanding issues. These issues include the status of planning and development, factors that affect the timing of construction and installation, the cost and requirements for maintenance and operations, needs for sensor development and data management, the impact on availability of ships and deep submergence facilities, and the role of research-based observatories within national and international operational ocean observing systems being developed and implemented.

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