HYDRO-BIOS Titanium Array Multi-Sediment Trap

Waiver Rationale Summary

The PMEL works collaboratively with the Alaska Ocean Observing System, NOAA’s Arctic Research Program and the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) international collaboration program to understand and quantify the changes occurring in the US Arctic. The DBO is a unique researcher-driven establishment of a series of study regions in the US Arctic to monitor and quantify the changes occurring, occupied by national and international entities with shared survey methods and data plan. NOAA PMEL has participated in the DBO program since its inception and leads dedicated annual surveys to select sites each Fall. The multi-sediment traps are already in use in the DBO program, and utilizing the same instrument provides the necessary continuity for all study regions. Utilizing the same multi-sediment trap will provide necessary continuity at the DBO study regions. This allows shared resources and personnel to work with instruments that employ the same physical setup, software, and analyses, and therefore lead to a higher success rate in deployment, recovery, and measurement comparison.