Launching a new era in oceans research

NEPTUNE Canada Program Director Dr. Chris Barnes with one of the node frames. Photo: Arnold Lim Photography

The final stage of installation of the world’s largest and most advanced cabled ocean observatory is under way off the west coast of Vancouver Island. On July 4, the cable ship Lodbrog set sail from the Esquimalt Graving Dock (EGD) to install the first of five nodes that will power NEPTUNE Canada, led by the University of Victoria.

Over the next two-and-a-half months, a team of scientists and marine engineers will complete installation of the nodes and instruments that will provide continuous, long-term monitoring of ocean processes and events as they happen.

Via the Internet, land-based researchers across Canada and around the world will use NEPTUNE Canada to conduct offshore and deep-sea experiments and receive real-time data without leaving their laboratories and offices.
“Scientists and staff at NEPTUNE Canada are delighted to begin the final phase of installation following a decade of planning,” says Dr. Chris Barnes, program director of NEPTUNE Canada.

“Working with a national and international team of scientists and industry partners, we’ve developed a host of novel science experiments, advanced engineering and sensor technologies and innovative data management systems. This is a very exciting time for ocean science.”

Barnes was among the crowd of NEPTUNE Canada scientists and staff members who joined federal and provincial government and industry representatives at an installation ceremony at the EGD on July 3. This is where the nodes and their protective bright yellow trawl-resistant frames (TRF) have been undergoing testing by Alcatel-Lucent along with their sub-contractor, Victoria Shipyards.

As an appreciative crowd watched, the Lodbrog crew demonstrated how the ship will lower the nodes into the ocean for connection via spur cables to the 800-km loop of cable backbone installed in 2007. UVic’s shore station in Port Alberni provides power to the cable network and manages two-way communications and data flow between the subsea cable network and NEPTUNE Canada headquarters at UVic.

Installed at depths of up to 2.7 km, the nodes step voltage down from 10,000 volts to 400 volts. Junction boxes control and distribute power from the node to instruments including seismometers, hydrophones and remotely operated vehicles equipped with cameras, probes and chemical analysis units. Many of the instruments involve breakthrough technology being used in the field for the first time.

“This is truly transformative science,” says UVic President David Turpin. “At a time when our understanding of the oceans is clearly becoming more essential than ever, NEPTUNE Canada will play a leadership role in advancing our knowledge of the oceans in ways not previously possible. We are launching a new era of ocean exploration.”

At each of the five node sites the submersible ROPOS, deployed from the research ship Atlantis, will guide the TRF into place if required. ROPOS will then plug a test device into each science port on the node to ensure they’re working before doing a final inspection.

Installation of the nodes and other infrastructure is scheduled for completion by Aug. 17.

Most of the main instrument installation, using the research ship Thompson, is scheduled to begin Aug. 20 with completion in late September. Final testing and commissioning should take about a month. Real-time data flow to scientists and the public is expected by late 2009. One of the node sites will be instrumented in 2010.

NEPTUNE Canada is funded with more than $100 million from the Government of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, CANARIE, and the Government of British Columbia through the BC Knowledge Development Fund.

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