MOORINGS

Autonomously recording dataloggers and robotic samplers gathering ocean time series.

Illustration of the GAK1 mooring, with the flotation bouy on the surface and monitoring equipment stringing along below, and weighted at the bottom of the rope.

Technical design of the GAK1 mooring.

To fully understand ocean behavior, we need continuous measurements in the same location over time. A mooring is a fixed array of instruments anchored to the seafloor, often with a buoy or float at the surface, that collects data on ocean conditions over weeks, months, or even years. Oceanographic moorings house a variety of autonomous sampling systems: optical, electronic, acoustic and robotic devices store data and collect physical samples until the mooring is retrieved - usually about a year after deployment.

At the UAF Oceans Lab, our moorings measure a wide range of physical and biogeochemical properties, including temperature, salinity, currents, and nutrients. By staying in one place, moorings capture the day-to-day and month-to-month variability of the ocean that ship-based surveys often miss. This is especially important in dynamic regions like the Gulf of Alaska and Arctic shelves, where conditions can change rapidly with storms, tides, and seasonal cycles.

Data from moorings complement other observing platforms helping us build a complete picture of ocean circulation, ecosystem dynamics, and environmental change. Moorings are critical for research, forecasting, and resource management, providing insights that support both science and coastal communities.

Researchers ready the Gulf of Alaska Mooring (GAK) mooring for deployment off the deck of the research vessel Sikuliaq.

GAK1 mooring ready for deployment.

GAK 1 Mooring

The Gulf of Alaska (GAK) Mooring contributes year round data to one of the longest time series of temperature and salinity data across depth in the North Pacific. Mooring deployments at GAK began in 1998 and these data build on temperature-salinity profile data collections that began in 1970. Our team recovers and redeploys the mooring annually. Data from GAK1 used in population models for commercial fish and crab species, for monitoring the manifestation of climate change in the Northern Gulf of Alaska, and provides environmental context for many scientific research projects.

Chukchi Ecosystem Observatory

Advances in instrument technology now allow us to autonomously sample the marine ecosystem from the vantage of multiple disciplines and across multiple trophic levels. We annually recover and re-deploy a set of subsurface moorings on the NE Chukchi Sea continental shelf. The instruments record with high temporal resolution throughout the year, including the under-sampled and poorly understood seasons when sea ice typically inhibits ship-based sampling. The Chukchi Ecosystem Observatory (CEO) moorings record physical, nutrient and carbonate chemistry, particulate, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, marine mammal and benthic epifauna data sets. Together they provide an unprecedented view into the mechanistic workings of the Chukchi shelf ecosystem.

Deployment of a CEO mooring from R/V Sikuliaq.

A tripod-style mooring is being deployed into the ocean.

Tripod-style mooring deployment

The top of a floatation sticks out of the water as the CEO mooring is being recovered.

Recovery of a CEO subsurface mooring

Moorings in southeast Alaska Fjords

In partnership with the National Park Service, we maintain oceanographic moorings in SE Alaska's Disenchantment Bay and Glacier Bay. These moorings are deployed to assess the annual replenishment of deep waters in the fjord and the consequences of exchange flows on the marine ecosystems.

Researchers on the stern of a research vessel preparing an oceanagraphic mooring for deployment.

Preparations for mooring deployment in Glacier Bay.

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