Large subsea observatory for earth-ocean science: Challenges of multidisciplinary integration across hardware, software, and people networks

NEPTUNE Canada has installed and is operating a regional cabled ocean observatory from the coast across the northern Juan de Fuca Plate in the northeastern Pacific. Installation of the first suite of instruments and connectivity equipment was completed in 2009, so this system now provides the continuous power and bandwidth to collect integrated data on physical, chemical, geological, and biological gradients at temporal resolutions relevant to the dynamics of the earth-ocean system. The building of this facility integrates hardware, software, and people networks. Hardware progress to date includes: installation of the 800km powered fiber-optic backbone in fall 2007 (lOkV DC and lOGbsec communications); technological development of Nodes and Junction Boxes; acquisition/development and testing of Instruments; development of mobile instrument platforms such as (a) a Vertical Profiler (NGK Ocean, Japan) and (b) a Crawler (Jacobs University, Bremen); and integration of over a thousand components into an operating subsea sensor system. Nodes, extension cables, junction boxes, and instruments were installed at 4 out of 5 locations in 2009; the fifth Node (Endeavour Ridge) will be instrumented in September 2010. In parallel, software and hardware systems have been developed for acquiring, archiving, and delivering the continuous real-time data through the Internet to the world -already many terabytes of data (about 60TB/yr). A web environment (Oceans 2.0) to combine this data access with analysis and visualization, collaborative tools, interoperability, and instrument control is being released. Finally, a network of scientists and technicians are contributing to the process in every phase, and data users already number in the thousands. Initial experiments were planned through a series of workshops and international proposal competitions. At inshore Folger Passage, Barkley Sound (17-100m), understanding controls on biological productivity help evaluate the effects that marine processes have on fish and marine mammals. Experiments around Barkley Canyon (400-1000 m) allow quantification of changes in biological and chemical activity associated with nutrient and cross-shelf sediment transport around the shelf/slope break and through the canyon to the deep sea. There and north along the mid-continental slope (ODP 889 site at 1250 m), instruments on exposed and shallowly buried gas hydrates allow monitoring of changes in their distribution, structure, and venting, particularly related to earthquakes, slope failures and regional plate motions. Circulation obviation retrofit kits (CORKs) at mid-plate ODP 1026-7 (2660 m) monitor real-time changes in crustal temperature and pressure, particularly as they relate to events such as earthquakes, hydrothermal convection or regional plate strain. At Endeavour Ridge (2200 m), complex interactions among volcanic, tectonic, hydrothermal and biological processes will be quantified at the western edge of the Juan de Fuca plate. Across the network, high resolution seismic information elucidates tectonic processes such as earthquakes, and a tsunami system allows determination of open ocean tsunami amplitude, propagation direction, and speed. The infrastructure has further capacity to allow experiments to expand from this initial suite. Further information and opportunities can be found at www.neptunecanada.ca . NEPTUNE Canada will transform our understanding of biological, chemical, physical, and geological processes across an entire tectonic plate from the shelf to the deep sea (17-2700 m). Real-time continuous monitoring and archiving allows scientists to capture the temporal nature, characteristics, and linkages of these natural processes in a way never before possible. Data flow is open and free. New users, new instruments and commercial participation are invited; funding opportunities for further expansion may emerge in the near future.