Microsoft co-founder funds deep-ocean science

Paul Allen, one of the co-founders of software company Microsoft, is providing $4 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to expand the agency’s deep-ocean observation projects.

The money will help kick-start the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory’s Deep Argo project, in which a series of floats will gather data from up to 6,000 meters below the western South Atlantic Ocean.

“This is NOAA’s first formal public-private partnership for sustained ocean observations,” said acting NOAA chief scientist Craig McLean. “We applaud Paul Allen for his visionary investment in long-term knowledge to help answer some of Earth’s most challenging questions.”