Ocean science goes deep
Friday, October 16, 2009
A global mission to wire up sea-floor observatories gets under way. More info...
NSF Press Release
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
National Science Foundation and Consortium for Ocean Leadership sign cooperative agreement for vast undersea observing network More...
Seattle Times Editorial
Sunday, September 06, 2009
A University of Washington oceanography professor's tenacious pursuit of research grants will yield an undersea observatory of extraordinary capacity and potential. More..
Daily Journal of Commerce
Thursday, September 03, 2009
The eventual goal is to create a network of instruments, undersea cables and moorings that span the Western Hemisphere. More info
Statement from Governor Gregoire
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Statement from Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire on UW OOI funding. More info....
KING5 News
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
The university will build a regional cable network off the Pacific Northwest that will provide electrical power and communications bandwidth to instruments on the seafloor. More info....
Seattle Times
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Delaney has been working for more than 20 years to secure the funding for the project. It's the largest federal award the university has ever received in a five-and-a-half-year time period, said UW president Mark Emmert. More info...
Statement from Senator Patty Murray
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Statement from Washington State Senator Patty Murray on UW OOI funding. More info...
New York Times
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
The vast network of fiberoptic and power cables and stations will relay continuous scientific data and video images from the depths of the seafloor via the Internet. More info...
OOI Funding Announced September 2, 2009
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
A two-decade quest to transform the manner in which science in the ocean basins is conducted culminated on September 2, 2009 with the announcement of approximately $385 million in funding over 5 1/2 years for the implementation phase of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The University of Washington is slated to receive approximately $126 million to construct the Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) cabled component of the OOI. This anticipated funding would be UW's largest single award of Federal funds over a comparable period.
The fiber-optic cables of the Regional Scale Nodes will carry unprecedented levels of electrical power and telecommunications bandwidth into the oceans to serve the needs of science, education, and humanity at large. The observatory is designed to have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years. OOI infrastructure in the Northeast Pacific Ocean comprises the cabled observatory, a high-latitude mooring in the Gulf of Alaska, and moorings for coastal studies off Oregon and Washington. Real-time data, including high-definition imagery, from this vast array of sensors will be available 24/7 over the Internet, forever changing the way scientists, educators, and the public access the oceans.
For more information:
- University of Washington News and Information Press Materials
- University of Washington Video News Release
- Regional Scale Nodes Briefing Document
- Consortium for Ocean Leadership Press Materials
- NSF Press Release
Seattle PI: UW gets $126M for Northwest ocean observatory.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
SEATTLE -- The University of Washington has received about $126 million to create a cable network on the seafloor to improve ocean observations. More info...
Puget Sound Business Journal
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
A primary goal of the project is to explore natural events in the oceans that influence climate change. More info...
Transformative ocean infrastructure construction to begin
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a transformative infrastructure project that will provide an expandable and adaptable network for observing complex ocean processes such as climate variability, ocean circulation, and ocean acidification across a range of spatial scales at several coastal, open-ocean, and seafloor locations. More info...
Keeping Watch on the Planet from the Bottom Up
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
This summer, a pair of research vessels will seek out a slim cable buried two years ago on the seabed 300 kilometres off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Full story in the Globe and Mail
Ocean Observatories Initiative Authorization Announcement
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
On May 15, 2009, the National Science Board authorized National Science Foundation Director Arden Bement to make awards toward the construction of the Ocean Observing Initiative. Full story.
UW Team Drives Ocean-Observing Project Closer to Reality
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
In the future, deep-sea exploration will not be restricted to scientists on research vessels equipped with remote-controlled submarines. Anyone with an Internet connection will have access to data and images from the ocean’s mysterious and remote depths Full Story
OOI Final Design Review Report Available
Friday, January 09, 2009
The Final Report from the Final Design Review of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, conducted by the National Science Foundation in November 2008, is now available. A public version of the OOI FDR document package is currently being prepared and will be posted on the website soon. Full Story
MARS Deep-Sea Observatory Goes Live
Friday, November 21, 2008
Six years and $13.5 million dollars in the making, the MARS Observatory went "live" on Monday, November 10, 2008, returning the first scientific data from 900 meters (3,000 feet) below the ocean surface. Full Story
Submersible robots explore the ocean's depths
Monday, September 08, 2008
MSNBC Frontiers column on how underwater vehicles can "paint" an underwater picture like we haven't seen before. Full Story
New AUV used to map locations of OOI RSN node sites
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The newest in a class of unmanned submersible robots has helped locate optimal locations for seafloor observation sites off the northwestern United States. Full story
