A Break in the Action

Bosun Pete Liarikos raises a fist to stop the action during the deployment of a multifunction node (MFN) from the deck of the research vessel Neil Armstrong. The gray metal MFN forms the foundation of Coastal Surface Moorings at the National Science Foundation-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative Coastal Pioneer Array. It houses a 5,000-pound anchor and provides a platform for numerous scientific sensors that measure a variety of ocean properties at the level of the seafloor. 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 Véronique LaCapra, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)