Collaborative Research: OOI Biogeochemical Sensor Data Workshop

Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA

Investigators

Abstract

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) deploys sensors that measure key biogeochemical properties on both moored and mobile autonomous platforms across arrays in the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans. These sensors generate data sets with great potential to support the oceanographic community in studying a wide range of important and interdisciplinary questions. However, OOI biogeochemical sensor data have thus far been underutilized by the oceanographic community because the application of these rich data streams requires effective calibration and validation, including post-deployment human-in-the-loop processing. In order to broaden the use of OOI biogeochemical sensor data and increase community capacity to produce analysis-ready data products, the PIs will convene a 3-day in-person workshop on using OOI biogeochemical sensor data that will bring together participants with expertise in biogeochemical sensor calibration and analysis from both within and beyond the current OOI user community. The goals of this workshop are to: 1) Develop a set of guidelines and best practices for using OOI biogeochemical sensor data, which will be shared with the broader community through a published white paper, and 2) Build a community of practice among the workshop participants that will enable attendees to use the OOI biogeochemical sensor data in new research projects and to broaden participation and uptake of data produced by this community resource. This workshop will address barriers to the oceanographic community's utilization of OOI biogeochemical sensor data by bringing together subject matter experts in the processing and analysis of biogeochemical sensor data, along with current and future users of OOI biogeochemical data streams. One outcome of the workshop will be a set of community-vetted best practices for the calibration and validation of OOI biogeochemical sensor data. These best practices will be published and widely disseminated to the broader oceanographic community. This effort represents an important step towards the acquisition of climate-quality data from OOI biogeochemical sensors that can be qualitatively compared and integrated with biogeochemical data streams from other ocean observing programs and networks. The workshop will facilitate broader usage of biogeochemical data generated by the OOI arrays for scientific research, as well as education and marine resource management applications. Additionally, this workshop will provide an invaluable professional development opportunity for the participants, including many researchers who are early career and/or from underrepresented groups. Finally, there is the strong potential for this workshop to catalyze the formation of community-driven science teams around the OOI biogeochemical sensor data streams. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.