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NSF PR 02-76 - September 24, 2002
Undersea Data Network Planned for Monterey Bay
Computer networks and power grids are common enough
on land, but over the next three years a team of oceanographers
will be extending such networks thousands of feet
beneath the sea. The National Science Foundation (NSF)
recently awarded grants to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute (MBARI), as well as the University
of Washington, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and
the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to set up
an undersea data network for oceanographic research
in Monterey Bay. Known as the Monterey Accelerated
Research System (MARS), the network will consist of
undersea cables and docking stations to provide power
and high-speed data links for a variety of oceanographic
devices.
"The cutting-edge technology that will be used at the
MARS observatory will change the way we do oceanography,
and will give the research and education communities
unprecedented permanent access to the ocean environment
to study a wide range of processes from earthquakes
to changes in climate and ecosystems," says Alexandra
Isern, program director in NSF's division of ocean
sciences.
Marcia McNutt, president and CEO of MBARI, notes, "We
take for granted the fact that the infrastructure
for power and communications is readily available
on land. But for decades researchers have struggled
with the problem that there is no undersea equivalent
to the wall socket, the phone line, or the internet
drop. MARS will provide the first state-of-the-art
power and communications 'highway' into the deep sea."
By supplying both data links and electrical power,
this network will allow real-time, continuous, long-term
monitoring of conditions beneath the surface of the
bay. Currently such information can only be gathered
during intermittent ship cruises or using temporary
devices that must eventually be retrieved when their
batteries wear out. When complete, the MARS network
will be able to support a variety of "plug-and-play"
research devices, and will be expandable, with additional
devices on side cables up to 60 miles from the main
cable.
The first stage of the network will consist of almost
40 miles of submarine cable and a single science node
located almost 4,000 feet below the ocean surface.
The node will have four separate docking stations
for oceanographic instruments. The cable will also
supply up to 10 kilowatts of power to the instruments-enough
power to supply a small neighborhood, and several
orders of magnitude more power than could be supplied
using batteries alone.
In addition to supporting oceanographic research within
the Monterey Bay, MARS will serve as a testing ground
for technologies to be used in a more ambitious undertaking-the
NEPTUNE project. NEPTUNE will involve thousands of
miles of undersea cables and dozens of networked seismographs
and oceanographic monitoring stations off the Pacific
coast, from Northern California to Vancouver Island.
This dynamic undersea region, where oceanic and continental
plates collide, is a key to understanding global tectonic
processes, as well as assessing the risks from locally
generated earthquakes and tsunamis.
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