Endurance Inshore VISIONS 14

Endurance Inshore Study Site

Location: 44°38.238ºN  124°18.336ºW         Water Depth: 80 meters

The Oregon Inshore Site, at a water depth of 80 m, is the shallowest cabled site along the Oregon Endurance Array. It is part of the Endurance Array, which in total, the includes two cross-shelf moored array lines, the Oregon Line (also called the Newport Line) and the Washington Line (also known as the Grays Harbor Line). Each these lines contain three fixed sites spanning the slope (500-600 m), shelf (80 m) and inner-shelf (25 m). These mooring lines will provide synoptic, multi-scale observations of the eastern boundary current regime. The Oregon and Washington Lines are both affected by wind-driven upwelling and downwelling, but shelf stratification and upper-ocean properties are influenced differently at each location by the Columbia River outflow. Observations at both locations will allow for a greater understanding of coastal ocean ecosystem responses to climate variability.

During Leg 7 of VISIONS '14, it is anticipated that the cabled component of the Endurance Inshore Site will be completed. The installation will include a Shallow Surface Piercing Profiler, an instrumented Benthic Experiment Platform, a junction box, and a bioacoustic sensor and digital still camera. Date is expected to flow live early 2015. The installation effort is a partnership between the University of Washington and Oregon State University.