Relocation of the OOI Pioneer Array

The OOI Pioneer Array was envisioned as a relocatable coastal array to investigate physical and biogeochemical exchange processes on the continental shelf and upper slope. The Array is currently sited on the New England Shelf (NES), centered at the shelfbreak south of Martha's Vineyard, MA. The array infrastructure includes moorings, gliders and AUVs. In the fall of 2020, NSF launched a process to consider relocation of the array. The approach was to solicit input from the community and then, if the decision was to relocate, prepare for operation in the new location by taking a hiatus in operation of the NES Pioneer Array; no new funding would be assigned to the relocation process. Two week-long Innovations Labs were held where interdisciplinary teams of researchers, stakeholders, and educators worked together to consider relocation options, to describe research themes at the new location, and to provide array design recommendations. Among the goals was to maximize the use of existing infrastructure to create the new array. The process concluded with a decision to move the array to the southern Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) in 2024, and the process of design and implementation for the MAB Pioneer Array is now underway. Input from the Innovations Labs resulted in high-level science themes, a preliminary array design, and recommendations for instrument types and locations. With this as input, the OOI Program has established a timeline for implementation and has initiated a series of tasks, including a regulatory study, environmental assessment, array layout, mooring design review, and instrumentation assessment. In order to develop a sustainable MAB Pioneer Array, community recommendations were considered in the context of operating constraints, logistical constraints, and the projected operating budget.