Good Omen

“I think it was a good omen, as everything has gone smoothly so far,” said WHOI senior scientist Al Plueddemann when describing the appearance of a snowy owl on the second day of a cruise aboard R/V Knorr. The research team was deploying the first moorings and gliders of the Pioneer Array, a part of the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The data collected by Pioneer Array moorings are transmitted to shore via satellite in near-real time, where they are made freely available online. (Photo by John Lund, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)