NEPTUNE: real-time, long-term ocean and Earth studies at the scale of a tectonic plate

The NEPTUNE project will establish a linked array of undersea observatories on the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate. The NEPTUNE infrastructure, consisting of fiber-optic/power cable and junction boxes, will provide significant amounts of power and an Internet communications link to sensors and sensor networks on, above, and below the seafloor. This observatory will provide a new kind of research platform for real-time, long-term, plate-scale studies in the ocean and Earth sciences.