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by Deb Smith
Sealife at the bottom of Saanich Inlet.
At 4:45 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2006, the VENUS instrument platform was plugged into the central node and power was brought up. Data flow verification from the shore station signaled the official launch of the Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea observatory in Saanich Inlet.
After years of careful planning and preparation, VENUS was at last a reality.
This month, the VENUS team and the University of Victoria are celebrating the first anniversary of one of the world’s most advanced cabled seafloor observatories.
The VENUS facility is the only seafloor observatory that provides two-way communication using the Internet. In simple terms, VENUS provides power to ocean science instruments on the seafloor and transmits streaming data, in near real time, back through cables and networks to UVic and the world via its website at www.venus.uvic.ca.
February 2006 was a milestone for the VENUS team. With the help of industrial partners Global Marine Systems Ltd. and North Vancouver’s OceanWorks International Inc., the VENUS node, fibre optic cable, and instrument platform were installed in Saanich Inlet.
VENUS team members Paul Macoun, Richard Dewey and Adrian Round
with the node.
Later that month, the team boarded the Coast Guard vessel John P. Tully with the remotely operated vehicle ROPOS, and attached additional platforms onto the VENUS array—a 15-metre hydrophone array and an Olympus digital still camera. The hydrophone array records ocean sounds and the camera takes high-resolution digital still images and short video clips. The camera sits on a 360-degree pan and tilt that can be remotely controlled over the Internet.
A highlight for the VENUS team was the announcement from the shore station that they had received the first images from the seafloor. Aboard the Tully, the anticipation and level of excitement was exhilarating. When the first images streamed in, the resolution was so good you wanted to reach out and touch the sea life.
VENUS sits at a depth of 100 metres in Saanich Inlet, three kilometres from the dock at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. It hosts a variety of instruments that measure ocean conditions such as oxygen, temperature, salinity, pressure, acoustics and turbidity.
The installation was a significant hurdle for the project, but data validation was critical. The VENUS science group had waited a long time for the first data and scrutinized them continuously.
But as the data flowed in, VENUS project director Verena Tunnicliffe became concerned. She was sure there was a problem, because the data seemed too variable. Then came that “Aha!” moment—the realization that the instruments were correct, and that Saanich Inlet is a far more dynamic place than we had ever imagined. VENUS had yielded its first big surprise.
Herring in Saanich Inlet
In June, VENUS splashed onto the Internet with its ocean portal. This portal is the VENUS cornerstone. When the first data arrived at UVic, a 20-year archive of continuous ocean data was launched.
“It feels like we have a direct personal link with the seafloor in Saanich Inlet from our computers,” says Tunnicliffe. “Every day, we check in to find new surprises and new mysteries. Sometimes, I want to drop everything to look at new data and pictures.”
The archive was created by the data management and archive system (DMAS) team, made up of about 20 individuals employed primarily by NEPTUNE Canada. Data are displayed as plots covering the last 24 hours (updated every five minutes), a time series for the last week (seven days), the last month (31 days) and the last year.
At the front end of DMAS is the website, where the world can see the sights, sounds and data of the ocean. VENUS has an open data policy, viewable and free to all.
The VENUS camera platform
“It’s been a challenging but rewarding journey as we’ve taken the VENUS vision and translated it into an operating coastal observatory,” says VENUS project manager Adrian Round. “While it was very satisfying to see the array deployed, a high point was seeing how excited users were about the system and what it will do for their research.”
Simon Fraser University criminologist Gail Anderson is one of the first scientists funded outside of the original project to do research using VENUS. Her forensics research using pig carcasses reminds us that there are few boundaries to ocean research possibilities.
This first year has taught us much about the versatility and complexity of our project. Some challenges have included: bringing the hydrophone array back to the dock and having it repaired and redeployed within a few days; the whole system going down during component failures; and having the camera out of commission for a few months to repair the pan and tilt.
VENUS is now in both a maintenance and installation mode as we get ready to deploy two more nodes. The second VENUS observatory will be installed in the Strait of Georgia, extending from the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant outfall near Vancouver, later this year.
The Wave Venture cable laying ship during installation
VENUS is the first of a new breed of cabled ocean observatories. Other planned and proposed systems include NEPTUNE Canada (also led by UVic), the US portion of NEPTUNE, MARS (US), Celtnet (Ireland), ARENA (Japan), and the ESONET (European Union). As the first one in the water, VENUS is scheduled to provide testing for some of these other observatories.
Making VENUS a reality required a special group of talented and committed people who work exceptionally well together as a team. “VENUS appears to be about technology, discovery and new challenges,” acknowledges Tunnicliffe. “but like almost everything in life, the project is really about people.”
The VENUS team includes Richard Dewey, Janet Hughes, Paul Macoun, Adrian Round, Verena Tunnicliffe, Jaklyn Vervynck and me.
“VENUS has grown into an amazing ‘child prodigy’ for a team of proud parents,” says Tunnicliffe. “The seed of an idea that was planted seven years ago has struggled and then flourished under the care of a great group. None of us can quite believe how well it’s functioning, and how great the potential is that still can be realized.”
Deb Smith is manager of marketing and communications for VENUS.
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