$20.6 million grant part of huge research effort

By KYLE ODEGARD

Gazette-Times reporter

Oregon State University will receive $20.6 million over the next six years to lead a component of the National Science Foundation's ocean observatories initiative. The project is part of a $331.5 million effort involving several institutions to study the world's oceans.

The university could receive an additional $29 million over the succeeding five years to continue operating a costal observatory that will focus on the continental shelf off Newport, which is one of the most heavily researched marine environments in the world. The project is meant to span 30 years.

"It's pretty incredible. It's giving us a chance to really check the pulse of the coastal ocean off here," said Jack Barth, OSU professor of oceanography.

Barth said he believed this was one of the largest research awards ever for the university.

The funding also serves as confirmation that OSU is a research leader in ocean studies, said Professor Bob Collier.

At nearly $3.5 million per year, the award boosts the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences' annual research budget by more than 10 percent, Barth said.

"As far as what's being spent in Oregon waters, it probably doubles it," he added. "This will allow us to have a full-time presence in Oregon's ocean. Before, we only did things a week or two at a time."

With the project, a string of moorings with scientific sensors will be placed off the coast near Newport. A network of undersea gliders will be programmed to patrol the near-shore waters from Washington to Southern Oregon, collecting a wide variety of data.

One of the gliders, which is about seven feet long, already is operating in the Pacific Ocean.

OSU's funding is part of $98 million awarded to an academic partnership led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an academic partner of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and also consisting of the University of California, San Diego.

Also part of the total $331.5 million effort to create a global observatory of the world's oceans is an effort by the University of Washington to create a regional site off Washington and Oregon, which OSU's observatory can link to.

Data will be accessible over real time, so fishermen, the maritime transportation industry and others can surf for data on "dead zones," ocean temperatures, currents or other matters, Barth said.

"The long-term coastal scale observations by the Ocean Observatories Initiative will be a key to understanding and monitoring the impacts of global climate change," said Mark Abbott, dean of the OSU College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, in a news release.

The dynamic coast off Oregon also includes rich habitats for marine life, hydrothermal vents, erosion causing waves, and a fault that could cause a large earthquake or tsunami.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.