A federal decision to dismantle ocean monitoring systems off Oregon's coast could impact forecasting, fisheries, and climate science.
A federal decision to dismantle much of a major ocean-monitoring network off the U.S. coast is raising concerns among Oregon scientists, who say the loss could affect everything from weather forecasting to fisheries management and climate research.
The National Science Foundation has begun scaling back the Ocean Observatories Initiative, or OOI, a network of more than 900 ocean-monitoring instruments that has collected real-time data for roughly a decade. The agency says the move is part of a broader effort to reduce costs and focus resources on other priorities.
"The decision to descope aligns with NSF's wider strategy of a nimbler approach to prioritize support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies, as well as smart lifecycle management within its research infrastructure portfolio," the organization told KATU in a statement. "NSF remains committed to ocean science and will continue working with the scientific community on high-priority.
"The NSF is eliminating most of the OOI's Endurance Array, which includes a network of buoys, seafloor instruments, and autonomous underwater vehicles that continuously monitor ocean conditions around the United States. "The Endurance Array is a set of moorings," said Jack Barth, a professor of oceanography at Oregon State University. "These have oceanographic sensors. They're anchored on the seafloor, go up to the sea surface, and they send really valuable data about the ocean back to us right away.
" Barth says it provides real-time information on ocean temperature, salinity, oxygen levels, chlorophyll, and other indicators of ocean health. According to officials at the Ocean Observatories Initiative, recovery operations for the Endurance Array are expected to begin in June. Most of the buoys, moorings, and underwater gliders are expected to be removed over the coming year, while broader reductions to the network are expected to continue through 2027.
Barth said the timing is concerning because researchers are monitoring the potential development of El Niño conditions later this year.
"There's an El Niño bearing down on us that'll arrive this fall," Barth said. "This is the worst time to be pulling out instruments that are going to tell us valuable stuff about that. "According to Barth, data collected by the system is fed into weather models used to forecast temperatures, precipitation, and other conditions across the Pacific Northwest. "All that data goes into our weather forecast models," Barth said.
"If you don't know information about the ocean, you're not going to get your weather forecast right because they're exchanging heat and they're exchanging moisture. "The Endurance Array has collected continuous observations for roughly a decade, allowing scientists to compare current conditions with previous years and identify long-term trends. "If you don't know what's normal, you don't really know when things are unusual," Barth said.
"We build a database of 10 years or even 20 years so that we know what is unusual. "Barth said the data helps identify changes that could affect marine life and the fishing industry. "Importantly, how much oxygen is in the water that all marine animals need to survive," Barth said. "So we get sort of a picture of the underwater situation off Oregon and Washington, and that's super important to our sustainable fisheries.
" The data has also helped researchers monitor marine heat waves that have developed off the West Coast in recent years. "These marine heat waves we've been having, where the temperatures are four to eight degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average, we know that affects the ecosystems and the fisheries," Barth said. "Having that information, the fishermen and the management councils can make good choices.
" The loss of the Endurance Array would not eliminate fisheries research off Oregon's coast, but it would remove one of the few systems capable of continuously monitoring ocean conditions year-round. Satellites and research vessels can still collect information, but Barth argues they cannot provide the same around-the-clock picture of what's happening beneath the ocean surface.
"Satellites are great, but they get the very top surface of the ocean," Barth said. "Research ships are great, but they're just not there all the time. "While some portions of the Ocean Observatories Initiative will remain in operation, including a seafloor cable system serving underwater observatories in the Northeast Pacific. Barth says the loss of the Endurance Array will leave a significant gap in one of the region's most comprehensive ocean-monitoring systems.
"If we don't know what's out there and we can't see what's coming, we're not going to be able to do things sustainably," said Barth. A Federal Marshals Task Force arrested a Taylor man Wednesday in connection with a homicide that occurred one month ago, Taylor police said.
Devin Olguin, 30, waPolice arrested a 68-year-old man Tuesday in connection with the murder of a man whose body was discovered stuffed inside a trash can in South Austin over the wPolice are working to identify a group of teens caught on camera breaking into a Round Rock water park and causing thousands in theft and property damage. The RoIn the Hill Country, about an hour outside Austin, there’s a spot where the Big Easy doesn’t feel so far away — and it’s serving up comfort, culture and communiCentral Texas roofs take a beating.
Between the spring hail season, the straight-line winds that roll in from West Texas thunderstorms, and the falling limbs fr
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