At the heart of the Bermuda Biological Station for Research is Hydrostation "S."
Until 1954, when the notion of establishing a site for sampling long-term time-series data was realized, BBSR was mainly known as a seasonal field station for visiting U.S. scientists and students. Hydrostation is now the world's longest-running year-round time-series program of the open ocean and has helped to establish BBSR as an internationally renowned marine science institution. Like its atmospheric equivalent, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, Hydrostation has greatly advanced our understanding of global climate change.
Dr. Henry Stommel
Photo circa 1950 |
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Hydrostation is located 15 nautical miles southeast of Bermuda and was founded by the late Henry Stommel, along with then director of
BBSR, the late William Sutcliffe. Dr. Stommel recognized BBSR's potential as a base for diverse scientific exploration and believed that a time series would build on existing work on
nutrient and productivity cycles. Hydrostation sampling trips began with a relatively relaxed schedule, as Dr. Stommel and his colleagues carried out expeditions on a bimonthly basis as time
allowed. Water specimens to record salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen content were taken at various depths down to 2,600 meters. For the first 13 years of data collection, scientists used the
Panulirus – a 61-foot round-bottomed, round-sterned boat that was reputedly not well suited to oceanic exploration. Despite its faults, the vessel became such
a key part of the project that Hydrostation was alternatively known as the Panulirus Station Project. Fortunately, Hydrostation saw a progression of more sophisticated
boats to facilitate data collection, including the Panulirus II, the Weatherbird, BBSR's first vessel able to hold a portable lab, and BBSR's current research ship, the Weatherbird II
. Each new ship brought improved scientific facilities, and more stable and secure conditions for the scientists and crew. The Weatherbird II now spends an average of 150 days a year at sea. The advent of well-equipped
on-board laboratories and CTD equipment is a far cry from the not so distant days of hanging and retrieving Nansen bottles one by one on a length of cable.
In its third decade of operation, Hydrostation came under threat, with the value of the program, then operated under a contract secured by Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution, thrown into question. By the late 1970s, there was a continuing very real possibility that funding would not be
renewed. Dr. Redwood Wright, a Woods Hole-based scientist who was then president of BBSR's Board of Trustees, and Dr. Tony Knap, now director of BBSR, secured funding in 1980 from the National Science Foundation
to continue Hydrostation with BBSR as the sole contractor. Dr. Stommel's legacy to BBSR has had more impact than the visionary scientist could have imagined. The accumulated data has allowed
scientists to form an understanding of the ocean's response to changes in the atmosphere, underscoring and securing the program's value for
the future. The importance of the data prompted the establishment of a sister site, the
Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study, in 1988, and together they have become a model for other integrated ocean
observation programs around the globe. Hydrostation cruises have also proved to be an essential educational
tool. They are frequently peopled by graduate students working on their thesis research and by visiting
university students testing the waters of a career in oceanography. |
