The NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) is a networked ocean
research observatory with arrays of instrumented water column moorings and
buoys, profilers, gliders and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) within different
open ocean and coastal regions. OOI infrastructure also includes a cabled
array of instrumented seafloor platforms and water column moorings on the
Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. This networked system of instruments, moored and
mobile platforms, and arrays will provide ocean scientists, educators and the
public the means to collect sustained, time-series data sets that will enable examination
of complex, interlinked physical, chemical, biological, and geological
processes operating throughout the coastal regions and open ocean. The seven
arrays built and deployed during construction support the core set of OOI multidisciplinary
scientific instruments that are integrated into a networked software
system that will process, distribute, and store all acquired data. The OOI
has been built with an expectation of operation for 25 years.Peer Reviewe