VENUS makes a splash
UVic unveils world's most advanced seafloor observatory
A project led by the University of Victoria is about to make oceanographic history. VENUS, the world's most advanced interactive cabled seafloor observatory, is being installed this month in the waters of Saanich Inlet north of Victoria.
The Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea project pioneers a new approach to observing and studying the oceans. Through the Internet, VENUS's underwater network of fibre optic cables and instruments will continuously feed measurements, sounds and images from the ocean depths to laboratories, classrooms, science centres and homes around the world.
But VENUS does more than observe. It is interactive, meaning that ocean scientists are no longer bound by the limitations of ship schedules, bad weather, or delayed access to their data. VENUS scientists can operate their instruments and download data online, day or night, in real time.
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Tunnicliffe speaks at the Nov. 16 reception to showcase VENUS technology. Also in attendance were (l-r): Murray Coell, B.C. Minister of Advanced Education and Minister Responsible for Research and Technology; UVic President David Turpin; and UVic Vice President Research Martin Taylor. |
| VENUS at a glance » |
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"The installation of VENUS is a scientific milestone for UVic, for Canada and indeed for the world," said UVic President Dr. David Turpin at a Nov. 16 reception to showcase VENUS technology. The event was held aboard the Wave Venture, a marine cable installation and repair ship docked at Ogden Point.
"VENUS lets us all ‘enter' the ocean whenever we wish and opens up a whole new era of ocean exploration," said Turpin. "It builds on UVic's recognized strengths in ocean sciences and we're very proud of the hard work, strong partnerships and innovative thinking that have brought us to this exciting threshold."
VENUS will support two cable arrays. The Saanich Inlet array will extend 4 km into Patricia Bay, and reach depths of 100 metres. It comes ashore at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in North Saanich. Another 40-km array will be installed in late 2006 in the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver.
Operating 24 hours a day, VENUS will support studies on: long-term ocean change; tides, currents and ocean mixing; fish and marine mammal movements; seismic activity; seafloor community ecology; underwater acoustics; sediment and slope dynamics; and plankton behaviour.
Over its 20-year lifespan, VENUS will grow as new instruments develop, new extensions are added, and new questions arise about the oceans. The VENUS scientific community will drive this growth.
VENUS users will include researchers, resource managers and policy-makers, ocean technologists, students, educators, and anyone curious about a world that is largely hidden from view.
"We want to get everyone into the ocean and break down the barriers to a world that most people can't see," says Dr. Verena Tunnicliffe, a UVic marine biologist and project director of VENUS. "If we're going to make wise decisions as stewards of the ocean, then we all have to see it and to care what happens to it."
Tunnicliffe, who is the Canada Research Chair in Deep Ocean Research, has spent more than 20 years studying the world's oceans and is a leading authority on deep sea life. She leads the 10-person VENUS team that has spent the last five years planning for the moment the cables are lowered onto the seafloor of Saanich Inlet this month.
"This has never been done before," she says. "We're the first to create the end-to-end observatory concept. As a scientist you can now interact with the ocean. You can ask it questions, and you'll get a response."
From their computers anywhere in the world, VENUS scientists can tell instruments to change measurements or instantly respond to unusual events, such as a storm, an earthquake, or a passing school of fish.
"A scientist in Ottawa can connect a current meter and see real-time data," explains Tunnicliffe. "An engineer in Ireland can change settings on a remotely operated vehicle connected to the array. Or a student in Saskatoon can download acoustic files of whale calls."
The main industrial partners for the Saanich Inlet array are Global Marine Systems Ltd., operators of the Wave Venture, and OceanWorks International Inc.
"The VENUS project further advances our commercial expertise into the cutting edge of undersea research," says Gabriel Ruhan, managing director of Global Marine. "We're very pleased to be working with UVic on this important project and we look forward to supporting our relationships throughout the undersea research community."
"We're very excited to be a part of the VENUS project," says Glen Viau, sales and commercial manager at OceanWorks. The North Vancouver-based firm designed and manufactured two key components of the VENUS array—the node and the science instrument interface module, or SIIM.
"The unique challenges involved in the project have given us an opportunity to showcase local capabilities in subsea technology," continues Viau. "UVic and the VENUS team are leading the world with this ground-breaking project."
Enter the ocean online at www.venus.uvic.ca
Live data from Saanich Inlet is expected to begin in mid-January.
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