A network of permanent observatories will soon monitor the oceans
THE planet arrogantly dubbed “Earth” by its dominant terrestrial species might more accurately be called “Sea”. Seven-tenths of its surface is ocean, yet humanity’s need to breathe air and its inability to resist pressure means this part of the orb is barely understood.
In June a project designed to help correct that will open for business. The seven sites of the United States’ Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), scattered around the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern oceans, will measure physical, chemical, geological and biological phenomena from the seabed to the surface. They will join three similar Canadian facilities, VENUS and NEPTUNE in the Pacific, which have been operating since 2006 and 2009 respectively, and the Arctic observatory in Cambridge Bay, an inlet of the Arctic Ocean, which opened in 2012.
The American project was conceived jointly with Canada, which secured funding first. Canada’s near decade-long operational experience should help to provide pointers to make the bigger operation a success. The OOI’s metaphorical flagship is the Cabled Array, which is being deployed off the coasts of Oregon and Washington, to the south of VENUS and NEPTUNE, with which it will collaborate. In particular, these observatories have a remit to study a suboceanic piece of the Earth’s crust called the Juan de Fuca plate, which is being overridden by the North American plate’s progress westward as part of the stately geological dance called plate tectonics.
As its name suggests, the Cabled Array is organised around a submarine cable—a 900km-long power and data connection between its base in Oregon and its seven submarine nodes (see illustration). These nodes are linked, in turn, to 17 junction boxes that distribute power and signals to the system’s instruments, and collect data from them. It is also connected to “profiler moorings” that let instruments travel up and down a wire stretching from the surface to the bottom, allowing a cross-section of the water column to be sampled at regular intervals.
Strange life
One of the Cabled Array’s jobs is to measure the Juan de Fuca plate’s volcanic and seismological activity, including the output of its hydrothermal vents—submarine springs from which superheated mineral-laden water emerges. These support very unusual forms of life which are not found in any other habitat. It will also, though, study more quotidian matters, such as ocean currents and chemistry, and the biological productivity of the area.
Read more: Wiring the world below
The Latest on: Ocean observatories
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Ocean observatories” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Ocean observatories
- Machines at the Bottom of the Ocean Witnessed the Recent Solar Stormon May 21, 2024 at 11:25 am
A recent solar storm triggered auroras around the world, but as millions watched this celestial display, its effects were also seen at the bottom of the ocean.
- NASA Enlists BAE Systems to Create Ocean Color Instrument for NOAAon May 21, 2024 at 3:05 am
NASA, BAE Systems to Develop Ocean Color Instrument for NOAA. Under this cost-plus-award-fee contract, BAE Systems will develop two flight instruments with potential options for a ...
- BAE to Build Ocean-Color Instrument for NOAA’s GeoXO Satellite Programon May 21, 2024 at 2:42 am
BAE Systems has secured a $450 million contract from NASA to design and develop an ocean-color instrument for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s next-generation geostationary ...
- New 3D models reveal how warming climate affects underwater ocean tideson May 20, 2024 at 2:00 pm
Few things in nature are as predictable as ocean tides. Driven by the moon's and sun's gravitational pull, these persistent, short-period, and large-magnitude phenomena are apparent in nearly all ...
- Solar storm frenzy of May 2024 was strong enough to affect the deep seaon May 20, 2024 at 10:01 am
It was indeed solar activity that influenced the compasses beneath the sea — some situated as deep as 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) beneath the surface. Similar anomalies that coincided with the May 2024 ...
- Powerful solar storm shakes Earth's core, sends compasses spinning kilometers deep in oceanon May 20, 2024 at 2:16 am
Read more about Powerful solar storm shakes Earth's core, sends compasses spinning kilometers deep in ocean on ...
- The last solar storm was so severe that it sank to the ocean flooron May 20, 2024 at 12:39 am
A powerful solar storm lit up skies worldwide with mesmerizing and intense aurora displays. Surprisingly, its impacts were felt far beyond our planet’s atmosphere, even at the bottom of the ocean.
- The Solar Storm Was So Intense We Felt It Even at The Bottom of The Oceanon May 19, 2024 at 6:34 pm
A solar storm that filled Earth's skies with shimmering curtains of light in May 2024 was so intense that its effects were felt, even at the bottom of the ocean.
- Biden Administration Provides $30 to Strengthen DART Systemon May 17, 2024 at 3:04 pm
The funding will go toward modernizing the Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis Ocean Observing System to make data more available and enable more accurate tsunami forecasting.
- Solar storm detected in deep sea observatorieson May 16, 2024 at 11:40 am
The powerful solar storm driving the aurora borealis over global skies last weekend was also triggering the movement of compasses deep in the ocean, as revealed in new scientific findings shared today ...
via Bing News