Autonomous Surface and Underwater Vehicles as Effective Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Platforms in the Arctic—The Glider Project

Effective ocean management requires integrated and sustainable ocean observing systems enabling us to map and understand ecosystem properties and the effects of human activities. Autonomous subsurface and surface vehicles, here collectively referred to as “gliders”, are part of such ocean observing systems providing high spatiotemporal resolution. In this paper, we present some of the results achieved through the project “Unmanned ocean vehicles, a flexible and cost-efficient offshore monitoring and data management approach—GLIDER”. In this project, three autonomous surface and underwater vehicles were deployed along the Lofoten–Vesterålen (LoVe) shelf-slope-oceanic system, in Arctic Norway. The aim of this effort was to test whether gliders equipped with novel sensors could effectively perform ecosystem surveys by recording physical, biogeochemical, and biological data simultaneously. From March to September 2018, a period of high biological activity in the area, the gliders were able to record a set of environmental parameters, including temperature, salinity, and oxygen, map the spatiotemporal distribution of zooplankton, and record cetacean vocalizations and anthropogenic noise. A subset of these parameters was effectively employed in near-real-time data assimilative ocean circulation models, improving their local predictive skills. The results presented here demonstrate that autonomous gliders can be effective long-term, remote, noninvasive ecosystem monitoring and research platforms capable of operating in high-latitude marine ecosystems. Accordingly, these platforms can record high-quality baseline environmental data in areas where extractive activities are planned and provide much-needed information for operational and management purposes.

Maximizing Benefits From Punctual Ocean Infrastructure: An Ethical Perspective

Ethics are becoming a component of best practices in ocean science and observing systems, with the research community facing a duty to society to maximize the efficient use and benefits that stem from investments in ocean science/monitoring. Sustained ocean observing systems on issues of global importance are coordinated, internationally sanctioned and making the most out of the resources accorded to them and consequently fulfilling their duty to society. However, globally huge investments are made annually in establishing infrastructure for shorter-term, punctual studies that address targeted as opposed to broad science needs. More could be done to maximize the benefits and impacts of these punctual efforts. Given punctual infrastructure’s small and frequently transient nature, connections to enable sharing will probably be done locally, and both potential additional users and owners of the infrastructure will need to be energetic, receptive and flexible. The accommodation of new uses will have to be balanced against any costs of these additional activities, which could pose an ethical dilemma in themselves if they compromise the infrastructure’s ability to meet its original intent. However, such adaptive infrastructures may be the most efficient way to provide the resources needed to identify and monitor emerging or new ocean stressors.

Collaborative Automation and IoT Technologies for Coastal Ocean Observing Systems

Coastal observing systems are typically nationally funded and built around national priorities. As a result, there are presently significant differences between countries in terms of sustainability, observing capacity and technologies, as well as methods and research priorities. Ocean observing systems in coastal areas must now move toward an integrated, multidisciplinary and multiscale system of systems, where heterogeneity should be exploited to deliver fit-for-purpose products that answer the diversity and complexity of the requirements from stakeholders and end-users. Essential elements of such distributed observation systems are the use of machine-to-machine communication, data fusion and processing applying recent technological developments for the Internet of Things (IoT) toward a common cyberinfrastructure. This perspective paper illustrates some of the challenges for sustained coastal observations and provides details on how to address present gaps. We discuss the role of collaborative robotics between unmanned platforms in coastal areas and the methods to benefit from IoT technologies. Given present trends in cost-effective solutions in ocean sensors and electronics, and methods for marine automation and communication, we consider that a distributed observation system can effectively provide timely information in coastal regions around the world, including those areas that are today poorly observed (e.g., developing countries). Adaptation in space and time of the sensing nodes, and the flexibility in handling different sensing platforms can provide to the system the ability to quickly respond to the rapid changes in oceanic and climatic processes, as well as to promptly respond to evolving stakeholder and end-user requirements.

Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Ocean Observing: A Review of Successful Partnerships

Understanding and management of the marine environment requires respect for, and inclusion of, Indigenous knowledge, cultures, and traditional practices. The Aha Honua, an ocean observing declaration from Coastal Indigenous Peoples, calls on the ocean observing community to “formally recognize the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples,” and “to learn and respect each other’s ways of knowing.” Ocean observing systems typically adopt open data sharing as a core principle, often requiring that data be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). Without modification, this approach to Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) would mean disregarding historical and ongoing injustices and imbalances in power, and information management principles designed to address these wrongs. TEK from global ocean observing is not equitable or desirable. Ocean observing systems tend to align with settler geography, but their chosen regions often include Indigenous coastal-dwelling communities that have acted as caretakers and stewards of the land and ocean for thousands of years. Achieving the call of Aha Honua will require building relationships that recognize Indigenous peoples play a special role in the area of ocean stewardship, care, and understanding. This review examines the current understanding of how Indigenous TEK can be successfully coordinated or utilized alongside western scientific systems, specifically the potential coordination of TEK with ocean observing systems. We identify relevant methods and collaborative projects, including cases where TEK has been collected, digitized and the meta(data) has been made open under some or all the FAIR principles. This review also highlights enabling factors that notably contribute to successful outcomes in digitization, and mitigation measures to avoid the decontextualization of TEK. Recommendations are primarily value- and process-based, rather than action-based, and acknowledge the key limitation that this review is based on extant written knowledge. In cases where examples are provided, or local context is necessary to be concrete, we refer to a motivating example of the nascent Atlantic Regional Association of the Canadian Integrated Ocean Observing System and their desire to build relationships with Indigenous communities.

Building Ocean Collaborations

Communicating the value of sustained ocean observing systems is urgent and necessary for their implementation, continuity, and expansion; and relies on effective dialogue among users at all levels to build support from policymakers and the public. This Ocean-Shot will build on the outcomes of OceanObs'19 and specifically work to realize the vision articulated in “The Challenge of Sustaining Ocean Observations” (Weller, 2019) and subsequent workshops hosted by the National Academies (2020). It will engage academia, industry, government, and nongovernmental organizations involved with global ocean observing and determine how to improve pathways to policymakers, stakeholders, and the public over the UN Ocean Decade. Key outcomes will include (1) broader understanding of how existing ocean observing science and policy areas intersect nationally and internationally, (2) identification of opportunities to build global support for ocean observing through cross-sector and international partnerships, and (3) determination of actions that the ocean observing community should take to develop a collective impact organization, the Ocean Partnership for Sustained Observations.

Open Data, Collaborative Working Platforms, and Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Building an Early Career Scientist Community of Practice to Leverage Ocean Observatories Initiative Data to Address Critical Questions in Marine Science

Ocean observing systems are well-recognized as platforms for long-term monitoring of near-shore and remote locations in the global ocean. High-quality observatory data is freely available and accessible to all members of the global oceanographic community—a democratization of data that is particularly useful for early career scientists (ECS), enabling ECS to conduct research independent of traditional funding models or access to laboratory and field equipment. The concurrent collection of distinct data types with relevance for oceanographic disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, and geology yields a unique incubator for cutting-edge, timely, interdisciplinary research. These data are both an opportunity and an incentive for ECS to develop the computational skills and collaborative relationships necessary to interpret large data sets. Here, we use observatory data to demonstrate the potential for these interdisciplinary approaches by presenting a case study on the water-column response to anomalous atmospheric events (i.e., major storms) on the shelf of the Mid-Atlantic Bight southwest of Cape Cod, United States. Using data from the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Pioneer Array, we applied a simple data mining method to identify anomalous atmospheric events over a four-year period. Two closely occurring storm events in late 2018 were then selected to explore the dynamics of water-column response using mooring data from across the array. The comprehensive ECS knowledge base and computational skill sets allowed identification of data issues in the OOI data streams and technologically sound characterization of data from multiple sensor packages to broadly characterize ocean-atmosphere interactions. An ECS-driven approach that emphasizes collaborative and interdisciplinary working practices adds significant value to existing datasets and programs such as OOI and has the potential to produce meaningful scientific advances. Future success in utilizing ocean observatory data requires continued investment in ECS education, collaboration, and research; in turn, the ECS community provides feedback, develops knowledge, and builds new tools to enhance the value of ocean observing systems. These findings present an argument for building a community of practice to augment ECS ocean scientist skills and foster collaborations to extend the context, reach, and societal utility of ocean science.