Multimillion-dollar contracts have been awarded to researchers who have been tasked with building an elaborate network of sensors and data crunchers designed to give scientists and the public much better insight into understanding oceans.
Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), a consortium of top U.S. oceanographic research institutions, has awarded contracts to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Washington to support the project, dubbed the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). National Science Foundation funding is behind the venture.
“Awarding these contracts marks the first step in transforming the way ocean science is conducted,” said JOI President Steve Bohlen, in a statement. “Rather than relying on limited expeditions from ships to gather data, observatories in the ocean will allow us to access data from our labs and desktops. Through the OOI, real-time data will be made available to scientists, citizens, teachers, and schoolchildren across the country.”
The networked sensors will take physical, chemical, geological and biological measurements in the ocean and on the sea floor. The project will include networked robots that can be controlled by researchers as well as multigigabit network links to support video and other applications.
UCSD is responsible for much of the computer architecture to be used in the project, with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography leading the effort and the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology managing it. The initial six-year award is worth $29 million, though total funding could boom to $42 million-plus over the course of the planned 11-year project.
The University of Washington will take on the job of building a cabled underwater research facility off of Oregon and Washington’s coasts. The school’s researchers have been awarded $2.2 million for an initial planning phase.
More contract details are expected to be shared later this summer.
bbrown@nww.com
