A platform is a set of infrastructure that hosts a complement of integrated scientific instruments. A platform can be stable and fixed in place (e.g. a surface mooring) or mobile (e.g. a profiler mooring which has a component that moves up and down in the water column, or a glider which is free to move in 3 dimensions). Each platform can contain multiple “nodes” to which the instruments are attached, and a means of transmitting the data from the integrated instruments to shore. See “Platform Types” entries below for more details on specific platforms within the OOI.