NEPTUNE revolutionizing ocean science

A Regional-Scale Ocean Observatory for Interactive, Real-Time, Long Term Ocean and Earth Studies

NEPTUNE, a joint US/Canada venture led by the University of Washington and, in Canada, by the University of Victoria, will cover the entire Juan de Fuca tectonic plate in the Northeast Pacific with 3000km of powered fibre-optic cable. The development of over 30 interactive deep-sea observatories using autonomous vehicles controlled by researchers onshore via the Internet, will revolutionize ocean science. For the next 30 years, NEPTUNE will stream data and images back from the deep ocean in real-time, providing scientists, students, policy makers and the public with an innovative approach to understanding earthquakes, tsunamis, undersea volcanoes, marine mammals, fish stocks, hydrocarbons and climate change.