RV THOMAS G. THOMPSON is back at sea
After a few very busy weeks inport, RV Thomas G. Thompson is back at sea.
This Memorial Day Weekend, the ship and crew will spend 2 days onloading equipment and science party members in Victoria, British Columbia.
NEPTUNE Canada is the regional network of the University of Victoria's Ocean Networks Canada Observatory. Below was provided by the University of Victoria.
DEEP-SEA EXPEDITION TO INSTALL TSUNAMI “ANTENNA”: The first NEPTUNE Canada ocean expedition of 2012 is preparing to cast off from Esquimalt on Sunday, May 27 aboard the 274-ft. research vessel, Thomas G. Thompson. A major highlight of the month-long operations “cruise” is the installation of a deep-sea tsunami “antenna”—the first of its kind in the world. The star-shaped array of four ultra-sensitive bottom-pressure recorders will be positioned at the ends of new 25-km arms of powered fibre optic cable, and will provide real-time data to Canadian scientists and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Network. "By allowing researchers to refine models of how tsunami waves approach our coast, this new technology will provide early warning information that will potentially protect lives and property,” says Dr. Kate Moran, director of NEPTUNE Canada.
During the cruise, scientists and engineers will also install new technology to monitor increasingly low oxygen levels that may severely affect fisheries and aquaculture, and the Vertical Profiler System, a suite of instruments to help scientists better understand the complex biology and chemistry of the ocean. To view live video streams of deep-sea dives, as well as live updates and visual highlights, visit the new expedition website, “Wiring the Abyss 2012,” at http://www.neptunecanada.ca/cruise12/
NEPTUNE Canada is managed by Ocean Networks Canada for a consortium led by the University of Victoria. Along with its coastal sister network, VENUS, it pioneers a new generation of ocean observation systems that, using power and the Internet, provides continuous, long-term monitoring of ocean processes and events, as they happen.
