The ocean observatories initiative: Scientific investigation in a changing ocean from anywhere on Earth

Abstract

Sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) (Fig. 1) has the potential to revolutionize ocean science. Its 24/7 telepresence will capture climate, carbon, ecosystem, and geodynamic changes on the time scales on which they occur, rather than when research vessels are able to be in the area. Data streams from the air-sea interface through the water column to the seafloor will be openly available to educators and researchers in any discipline, making oceanography available to citizens and scholars who might never go to sea. The unique, sustained, time-series data sets provided by the OOI will enable researchers to study complex, interlinked physical, chemical, biological, and geological processes operating throughout the global ocean. The science drivers motivating the OOI include the ocean carbon cycle and its response to global change, ocean acidification, the impact of climate variability on ocean circulation, coastal ocean dynamics and ecosystem response, and the impact of tectonically driven fluid flow on the carbon cycle, deep ocean ecosystems and earthquakes. The magnitude and mechanisms of air-sea exchange, the fundamental processes that control turbulent ocean mixing on all scales and the biophysical consequences thereof, and the impact of plate tectonics on the sea floor and society underpin these topics.