Undersea Cable Could Revolutionize Oceanography
Experts say Ocean observatory will be transformative
September 19, 2011
The commercial cable-laying ship, Dependable, installs backbone cables off the Oregon coast for the regional ocean observatory.
This past April, there was a big volcanic eruption in America’s Pacific Northwest. If you missed it, you're not alone.
It happened under the ocean off the northern Oregon coast. Since then, several research ships have sent unmanned submersibles down into the undersea crater to videotape lava flows and spewing vents.
In a few years, you should be able to watch such events live on the Internet 24/7. Thanks to a new underwater fiber optic cable, a new worldwide ocean observatory now under construction that could revolutionize our understanding of the deep sea environment.
Bringing the ocean to you
"This is a big deal. Suddenly the ocean is going to be accessible to people. We can't take them all out there deep in the ocean, but we can bring the ocean to them," says University of Washington oceanography John Delaney of his very expensive and ambitious high-tech baby.
Delaney a driving force behind an effort to wire the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon and Washington coasts for science. Delaney says the vision for this cable and instrument array dates back 20 years.
Delaney recalls bemoaning the expense and difficulty of gathering data in the deep ocean. Then the conversation turned to new undersea fiber optic cables.
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