Overview

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	Enlarge ImageResearchers are planning an infrastructure of long-term ocean-observing outposts that can transmit round-the-clock data from remote oceans to shore-based scientists. (Illustration by E. Paul Oberlander and Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Image courtesy of the OceanSITES program.)
	Enlarge ImageThe Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory measures small details of ocean process with minute-by-minute resolution, while affording the opportunity to paint broad pictures of the North Atlantic over time. (Illustration by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI) has awarded a $97.7 million contract to an academic partnership led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), to support the development, installation, and initial operation of the coastal and global components of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).

The WHOI partnership includes Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. This award completes the management team to construct and implement the $331.5 million OOI Network.

A press briefing formally announcing the contract was held at WHOI's Dyer's Dock in Woods Hole, Mass., on Thursday, August 23, 2007. Click here to read the national press release, or here for a regional press release on the program. Click on one of the following links to view video excerpts of the news conference: in RealPlayer -- in Quicktime -- in Windows Media.

Producers and editors seeking still and video/animated images to accompany their stories can preview the images spread among the pages of this Web site. Please contact media@whoi.edu for high-resolution or broadcast-quality versions.

The news briefing included:
• The Honorable Tim Murray, Lieutenant Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• The Honorable William Delahunt, U.S. Representative, 10th District of Massachusetts
• The Honorable Therese Murray, Senate President, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Dr. Holly Given, Director of Ocean Observing, Joint Oceanographic Institutions
• Ian A. Bowles, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Daniel O’Connell, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
• Dr. James Luyten, President and Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Mitchell Adams, Executive Director, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative

The observatory contract will be led and managed by a diverse team of scientists, engineers, and technicians. Learn more about them by clicking here.

Support for the WHOI-led coastal and global pieces of the Ocean Observatories Initiative will be provided through the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction program of the National Science Foundation, with additional regional support from the John Adams Innovation Institute, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

Members of the media should click here for more contact information.