Merchant marine vessel aids in ocean data collection

Sustained scientific observations and monitoring are crucial for measuring ocean change, providing valuable data that contributes to a better understanding of oceanography, biodiversity, and the interconnectedness of global systems, and helps inform decisions about conservation and resource management.

An initiative between a merchant marine container vessel and a team of researchers from multiple institutions, including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the Arizona State University / Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (ASU BIOS), is contributing to ocean observations and data collection, and offering peer-reviewed data.

A recently published study in Oceanography details how this unique partnership is helping to fill gaps in observations of the Middle Atlantic Bight shelf, Slope Sea, Gulf Stream and Sargasso Seas.

Cargo marine vessel (MV) Oleander is operated by Bermuda Container Line/Neptune Group and makes weekly trips between Elizabeth, N.J., and Bermuda. Since the 1970s, scientific equipment has been mounted on three different container ships operating consecutively on the “Oleander Line,” resulting in decades of scientific data. The newest MV Oleander came into service in 2019, and is now providing regular water column, sea surface, and atmospheric measurements.

This collective data gives scientists a unique, sustained window into upper ocean currents, water properties, and marine ecology. Along its route, the Oleander crosses the Gulf Stream and other currents that make up an important part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This vast oceanic circulatory system influences climate and weather patterns across North America, Europe, and many other parts of the globe and may itself be undergoing change resulting from human impacts on the global climate and ocean system.

“Sustained observations of temperature, salinity, and carbon dioxide concentrations along the Oleander Line have provided critical information about our changing oceans, including the warming and shrinking of the Slope Sea, and a northward shift of the Gulf Stream,” said Magdalena Andres, a senior scientist in WHOI’s Department of Physical Oceanography, and lead author on the study.

After passing Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the deep-reaching Gulf Stream begins to meander, serving both as a moving boundary between the water masses, ecosystems, and chemical regimes of the Slope and Sargasso Seas and as a point of air-sea exchange that drives intense regional wintertime cooling and uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Warm and cold core rings can intermittently break free from the Gulf Stream and drive interocean mixing, and the nutrient supply for phytoplankton blooms. Monitoring the impacts of the Gulf Stream and its rings is an area of active research, supported by the Oleander data.

Data from the project has been cited in dozens of peer-reviewed scientific publications, and contributes to global observing programs, including the Global eXpendable BathyThermograph (XBT) Network (Line AX32), the Surface Ocean CO₂ Atlas (SOCAT), and the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey.

“The long-standing cooperation between scientists and the Bermuda Container Line/Neptune Group serves as a model,” said Tim Noyes, marine ecologist and research fellow at ASU BIOS, and co-author of the study. “In situ measurements provided by ships can complement satellites and be an important part of global observing systems. Along with a suite of other observatory tools, this region of the world’s ocean is revealing some of the changes underway and helping us to predict and respond to future changes.”

The Oleander Project is a part of the Science RoCs (Research on Commercial Ships) initiative, which aims to equip many more commercial vessels with sensors to measure physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the ocean along the world’s major shipping routes. The current custodians of the Oleander Project are led by WHOI and include ASU BIOS, Stony Brook University, and the University of Hawaii, with key contributions also by the University of Rhode Island, one of the founding institutions of the partnership.

“The industry has signaled that it is willing to help as scientists seek to expand their ability to collect sustained observations of the atmosphere and upper ocean waters to advance science and address pressing global challenges,” said Kerry Strom, Senior Manager in WHOI Marine Operations and co-author on a recent study documenting best practices for recruiting vessels of opportunity for seagoing data collection.

“With its integrated system of scientific sensors, MV Oleander serves as an interdisciplinary observatory in the northwest Atlantic that can be replicated elsewhere to aid scientists who have only limited access to the seas. The successes of Oleander’s operations over the last 50 years demonstrate that partnering with the merchant marine can increase this access.”