A crucial component of one of the world's most ambitious ocean monitoring networks is set to be decommissioned this month, as scientists prepare to retrieve a research buoy from the depths of the Pacific off the Oregon coast.
This removal, scheduled for 16 June, marks the beginning of the end for much of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) – a vast system of over 900 ocean sensors, built at a cost of \$386 million, which has provided continuous real-time data for more than a decade. Last month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced its intention to dismantle most of the network, with instruments to be pulled from waters spanning Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and Greenland by 2027.
