A group of organizations under the leadership of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been awarded $220 million by the National Science Foundation for the continued operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a collection of instruments that work to monitor ocean processes.
According to the NSF, the WHOI-led group will use the new funds to enhance OOI’s cybersecurity and hire additional staff.
The group, whose members include the University of Washington and Oregon State University, will also use the money to finance the relocation of the Pioneer Array, one of OOI’s two arrays that work to monitor the coastal environment. The Pioneer Array is currently positioned off the coast of New England.
Lisa Clough, who heads the ocean sciences division at the NSF, described the function of OOI as “directly monitoring critical organs of the Earth” and underscored the necessity of such surveillance in light of fossil fuel use and its effect on the oceans.
