Twilight Zone Observation Network: A Distributed Observation Network for Sustained, Real-Time Interrogation of the Ocean's Twilight Zone

Abstract The ocean's twilight zone (TZ) is a vast, globe-spanning region of the ocean. Home to myriad fishes and invertebrates, mid-water fishes alone may constitute 10 times more biomass than all current ocean wild-caught fisheries combined. Life in the TZ supports ocean food webs and plays a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Technology Society journal 2021-05, Vol.55 (3), p.92-93
Main Authors: Thorrold, Simon R., Adams, Allan, Bucklin, Ann, Buesseler, Ken, Fischer, Godi, Govindarajan, Annette, Hoagland, Porter, Jin, Di, Lavery, Andone, Llopez, Joel, Madin, Larry, Omand, Melissa, Renaud, Philip G., Sosik, Heidi M., Wiebe, Peter, Yoerger, Dana R., Zhang, Weifeng (Gordon)
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive sampling
Autonomous underwater vehicles
Biomass
Carbon capture and storage
Carbon sequestration
Data transmission
Drifters
Ecosystem services
Fisheries
Floats
Food chains
Food webs
Industrial fisheries
Interrogation
Invertebrates
Marine ecosystems
Questioning
Sequestering
Underwater vehicles
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Summary:Abstract The ocean's twilight zone (TZ) is a vast, globe-spanning region of the ocean. Home to myriad fishes and invertebrates, mid-water fishes alone may constitute 10 times more biomass than all current ocean wild-caught fisheries combined. Life in the TZ supports ocean food webs and plays a critical role in carbon capture and sequestration. Yet the ecological roles that mesopelagic animals play in the ocean remain enigmatic. This knowledge gap has stymied efforts to determine the effects that extraction of mesopelagic biomass by industrial fisheries, or alterations due to climate shifts, may have on ecosystem services provided by the open ocean. We propose to develop a scalable, distributed observation network to provide sustained interrogation of the TZ in the northwest Atlantic. The network will leverage a "tool-chest" of emerging and enabling technologies including autonomous, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles and swarms of low-cost "smart" floats. Connectivity among in-water assets will allow rapid assimilation of data streams to inform adaptive sampling efforts. The TZ observation network will demonstrate a bold new step towards the goal of continuously observing vast regions of the deep ocean, significantly improving TZ biomass estimates and understanding of the TZ's role in supporting ocean food webs and sequestering carbon.
ISSN:0025-3324
1948-1209
DOI:10.4031/MTSJ.55.3.46