The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) program in November continued progress testing and procuring critical components of the OOI and providing updated information on instruments and other aspects of the program to the community that ultimately will use the OOI and its data.

This month, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) program awarded two important contracts for air-sea instrument packages and wire following profiler capabilities for the Coastal Global Scale Nodes (CGSN) component of the OOI.

While a number of Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) activities took place on the West Coast over the course of the summer, including Installation of the Undersea Cable off the Oregon and Washington coasts and tests of the Endurance Array, significant OOI test and community outreach activities are taking place this fall on the East Coast.

This month, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) team in the Pacific Northwest conducted a wide range of significant activities, including a special expedition to survey the future site of the OOI off the Oregon and Washington coasts, tests of critical components of system hardware for the Endurance Array, and continued installation of the undersea cable that will bring ocean observations to shore.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) completed a major milestone this month connecting the undersea cable deployed across the Juan de Fuca plate to the Axial Volcano and Hydrate Ridge sites to the shore station at Pacific City, Oregon.

A week-long external review of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) was held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from May 16-20, 2011.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) program in April continued work integrating the new Implementing Organization for Education and Public Engagement (EPE) into the larger team and made progress on a number of technical and development fronts across the program.

n March, the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) expanded the size of the program team with the addition of a new implementing organization (IO), took a significant step forward testing surface moorings for the Endurance Array and continued steady progress on equipment contract awards.

The OOI Project took a significant step forward in February beginning installation of the power and data undersea cable at Pacific City, Oregon, for the cabled component of the OOI that ultimately will link scientists and others in the OOI user community to data streaming from observing sensors in the ocean.

OOI is actively pursuing qualified job candidates for numerous openings throughout the project.

The OOI Program Advisory Committee (PAC) met at the Ocean Leadership offices from October 12-13. Details are being finalized for the formation of a technical subcommittee to address sampling issues and science scenarios. Solicitation for volunteers and nominations will be announced shortly.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative program has been busy with the design and development aspects of the project.