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Set for Sea

Buoys line the rail of R/V Knorr prior to its departure in mid-April for the Pioneer Array, a network of moorings and autonomous robotic vehicles programmed to monitor waters of the continental shelf and slope south of Martha’s Vineyard. The array is situated along a boundary where coastal waters meet the open ocean, and where where nutrients, pollutants, minerals, creatures, and waters of the coast mix and exchange with the deep ocean. Two-way communications via satellite allow scientists to transfer data and control instruments and vehicles within this dynamic area of ocean, said the expedition’s chief scientist Al Plueddemann.(Photo by Richard Pittenger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)