Lab 1.4 – OOI Science Highlight
Fundamental concept: Identify scientific methods and conclusions in OOI data real world case study
Estimated time to complete: 20 minutes
Materials needed: None
Certain scientific questions about the ocean led to the design and placement of each of the OOI arrays. In this activity, you will read about research conducted with OOI data and practice identifying the arrays, platforms and sensors used by the scientists.

Figure 1.4.1. Path of August 2017 eclipse across the Endurance Array. “Path of Totality” is the area in which the sun was completely blocked by the moon. The eclipse totality reached the red star on the Oregon shelf at 10:15 am local time on August 21, 2017. [Figure reproduced with permission from Barth et al. (2018)]
Watch the video below by University of Washington Oceanography students who were aboard a research vessel during the eclipse.
- Read this news article (originally published in the Los Angeles Times)
After reviewing the two descriptions above, take the quiz below to see if you can identify the components of the OOI system used to conduct the observations of zooplankton changing their behavior during the eclipse.
Quick Check Questions:
Application Questions:
Now answer these questions about the scientific findings:
- Describe the zooplankton behavior during the eclipse.
- The LA Times article mentioned that land animals experience a drop in air temperature during an eclipse. Why do scientists know that the zooplankton reacted to light and not to a change in water temperature or some other factor?
- The video and article both displayed a graph of zooplankton diel vertical migration data. What does the graph look like? What was the difference in appearance on the day of the eclipse compared to the day before the eclipse?
- In the previous Lab 1 activities, you have learned about other types of platforms and sensors. Pick one other platform or sensor and explain how it could be used to study zooplankton behavior or solar eclipses in general.