Calm Before Deploy

A coastal surface mooring buoy was fastened to the main deck of R/V Knorr on Tuesday, November 19 in preparation for deployment. The buoy and other instruments on deck are the first elements of the Pioneer Array, one of two Coastal Scale Nodes in the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The Array will eventually include a wide range of moored surface and sub-surface instruments as well as autonomous underwater vehicles that will provide scientists on shore with real-time, high-resolution data and enable better long-term predictions of changes in the coastal ocean. (Photo by Richard Pittenger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)