OOI Funding Announced September 2, 2009
UW receives largest-ever federal award to construct ocean observatory off the Pacific Northwest coast.
A two-decade quest to transform the manner in which science in the ocean basins is conducted culminated on September 2, 2009 with the announcement of approximately $385 million in funding over 5 1/2 years for the implementation phase of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The University of Washington is slated to receive approximately $126 million to construct the Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) cabled component of the OOI. This anticipated funding would be UW's largest single award of Federal funds over a comparable period.
The fiber-optic cables of the Regional Scale Nodes will carry unprecedented levels of electrical power and telecommunications bandwidth into the oceans to serve the needs of science, education, and humanity at large. The observatory is designed to have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years. OOI infrastructure in the Northeast Pacific Ocean comprises the cabled observatory, a high-latitude mooring in the Gulf of Alaska, and moorings for coastal studies off Oregon and Washington. Real-time data, including high-definition imagery, from this vast array of sensors will be available 24/7 over the Internet, forever changing the way scientists, educators, and the public access the oceans.
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