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National Science Foundation to Decommission Ocean Observatories Initiative Network
The nearly $368 million system of 900 deep-sea instruments will be removed from Pacific and Atlantic waters. Alaska's $5.3 billion seafood industry and coastal communities rely on data from the network.
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The National Science Foundation announced plans in May to decommission the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a nearly $368 million network of scientific instruments that tracks ocean chemistry, wave action, water temperature, salinity, and other metrics.
The network consists of some 900 deep-sea instruments distributed across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. All previously collected data will remain accessible, NSF spokesperson Cassandra Eichner said.
Ocean Station Papa, one of the systems, is situated in the Gulf of Alaska at a depth of nearly 14,000 feet. An Ocean Station Papa buoy floats in the waters of the Gulf of Alaska. 3 billion and employs nearly 42,000 people, according to a McKinley Research Group report prepared for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.
Michelle Stratton, executive director of the Alaska Marine Community Coalition, said the loss of Ocean Station Papa means the state will lose one of its only systems that documents how the ocean is changing in real time. "We're in the middle of salmon crashes, crab collapses, and repeated marine heatwaves, and this decision takes away the data we rely on to understand what's happening and how to manage these fisheries," Stratton said.
Jan Newton, University of Washington affiliate professor of biological oceanography, said the real-time information helps scientists, fishery managers, coastal hazard planners, and the military plan and prepare for the future.
"It helps us see where we're going and what's coming at us," Newton said. Rick Thoman, climate specialist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks who spent 30 years at the National Weather Service, said the oceans remain one of the most unexplored and poorly understood regions of Earth.
