

A system of high-tech sensors and fiber optic cables is being set up in the northeast Pacific Ocean that will enable real-time monitoring and data gathering from the ocean floor, and when completed, will become the world's largest underwater observatory.

Many aspects of the ocean are incredibly difficult to study with traditional methods, as human researchers are somewhat limited in their reach. Going to sea in a ship to study at specific locations can work for some research, and satellite and other monitoring equipment can work for others, but for some locations, such as the ocean floor near an active underwater volcano, more elaborate methods are required.

The Regional Cabled Observatory initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, is one project that can bring ocean studies into the 21st century, as it will gather and stream data and realtime video from 12 sensors under the ocean, informing both scientists and the general public.

The sensors will be monitoring pressure, oxygen levels, deep sea currents, seismic activity, underwater audio, and more, at key ocean floor and water column locations hundreds of miles off of the northwest coast of the U.S.. The first three sites are at Hydrate Ridge (methane seeps location), Axial Seamount (active volcano), and the Endurace Array Newport Line (studying the coastal upwelling region), and will be networked together with a high power and bandwidth cabling system.

The fiber optic cables will form, in effect, an ocean internet, and are part of the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), which is a planned 900 km long networked infrastructure under the ocean for both telecommunications and power needs.

© University of Washington