Canadian NEPTUNE Newsletter for February 2004

CONTENTS

1. Staff hiring
   • Recent appointments
   • Current vacancies of Chief Scientific Officer(s) and Assistant Director, Information Technology
2. New headquarters location at UVic
3. Observatory Sensing Systems: first workshop to prepare for allocation of $13 million available for community instruments: May 3-5, Victoria - travel support available.
4. Issuance of an RFQu (Request For Qualification) and a later RFP for the "Wet Plant"
5. NSF/NSERC ORION Workshop, Puerto Rico, Jan 4-8: summary of meeting
6. UVic/NSF MOU
7. Ocean Sciences Board established
8. Industry contacts

Summary comment
On 17 October 2003, full Canadian funding of $62.4 million for NEPTUNE Canada was announced. Funding came from the Canada Foundation for Innovation ($31.9M) and the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund ($30.5M) and was awarded to the University of Victoria, which leads a consortium of 12 Canadian universities from coast to coast. After over three years of planning, lobbying and applying for interim and then the final funding, it is a great relief to receive full funding, as requested from CFI/BCKDF. It has also triggered a series of activities and plans that are reported in this issue of the Newsletter - intended both for information and to elicit comments, assistance and advice. One item is attached in order that you can readily disseminate it to your colleagues.

1. Staff hiring

   • Recent appointments. The new funding has allowed a start to make the 12-14 core staff appointments that will be based on the UVic campus - others will be under contract to consultants, industry or partner groups and mostly based elsewhere. As at the end of January, appointments have been made of the Associate Director, Engineering and Operations (Peter Phibbs, formerly of 360Networks), of the Executive Assistant (Elizabeth Redpath) and of the Secretary (Christine McLaren). Deborah Smith who has been serving as a part-time EA for NEPTUNE Canada has returned to her initial position, and will be the EA for the VENUS Project. The December Newsletter reported on the earlier appointment of Fern Johnson as Manager, Finance and Administration.

   • Current vacancies. New advertisements (e.g. in the Globe and Mail and various websites) have been placed for the Chief Scientific Officer(s) and the Manager, Software Development (for DMAS). A copy of these ads is provided as an attachment and full position descriptions can be found in the Opportunities section of this website.

     Note that the position of the Chief Scientific Officer can be either a full-time position or be two part/half time positions, with one of the latter possibly residing outside of the Victoria area. The closing date for applications to be received as hard copy only at UVic is 19 February.

   [top]

2. New headquarters location at UVic

   Some small delay in making appointments reflected the securing of new space for the co-location of NEPTUNE Canada and VENUS at UVic. In early January, UVic provided space in a new building on campus (Technology Enterprise Building, constructed with the support of the Discovery Parks Foundation) at 2300 McKenzie Avenue. A list of staff phone numbers and directions to the building are given on the NEPTUNE Canada website. Space for the Centre for Earth and Ocean Research (CEOR) and the new Ocean Sciences Board (OSB) will also be provided in the same building.

   [top]

3. Observing Systems and Equipment: $13 million available; first workshop to be held in Victoria on May 3-5, 2004.

   NEPTUNE Canada received its full funding from CFI and BCKDF in mid-October 2003 and is in the process of adding core staff members, moving into new space, and developing part of a final budget submission for CFI. Some immediate actions will be to issue a Request for Qualification for the "Wet Plant" (cable and nodes connecting the science instruments to the shore station) and to begin to consider the principal science experiments within the four broad science themes, and to determine the initial instruments to be deployed or developed. We are presently advertising for a full-time Chief Scientific Officer (or two half-time positions) and an Assistant Director for Information Technology who will help guide these developments (see Opportunities for more information).

   NEPTUNE Canada funding includes a total of $13M for an initial suite of observing systems to support the proposed Canadian research. These will be chosen through a new process involving competitive, peer-reviewed proposals. They will be guided by, but not be restricted to, the examples used in the NEPTUNE Canada proposals to CFI and BCKDF.

   Proposals for these observing systems are required by January 5, 2005. After external review, the systems selected for NEPTUNE Canada funding should be announced in March 2005.

   The selection process will favour proposals from groups of scientists. Time is short and there will be great advantages in starting as soon as possible. A workshop is planned for May 3-5, 2004, in Victoria, to review the research opportunities and community experiments, consolidate proposal-writing groups, and advise on exact locations for key observatory nodes and propose specific observatory systems and equipment. Some equipment/systems will be available off-the-shelf, whereas other items may need modification or new development; the funding covers both of these options. Further workshops are planned for late September and late November 2004, dates and locations will be announced soon. NEPTUNE Canada will be able to provide some travel funding to help ensure the widest possible participation; funding will be restricted to those affiliated with Canadian institutions, but others with research interests in the northern loop, or to be involved in community experiments, are most welcome to attend the workshop(s).

   The selection process is expected to consider several criteria (to be detailed in final form prior to the first workshop):

   • support for highly innovative research programs or experiments and highly qualified applicants/teams.
   • the scope and significance of the proposed fundable research (number of scientists, students, total funding requested, etc.). It is expected that each observing or experimental system will support several research projects or community experiments.
   • benefits to Canada, primarily in terms of Canadian participation, equipment, integration and/or software, and advancement of research in the northern loop area; preference will be given to observing systems with a high level of Canadian content (equipment and personnel).
   • technological risk: likelihood/cost of achieving the required reliability and sustainability.
   • overall cost/benefit: partial funding, provision of existing equipment, or in-kind support from sources other than NEPTUNE Canada would be an asset.
   • additional external funding, in-kind support and/or equipment that individuals or teams can also bring to support proposed experiments.

   Proposals will be expected to provide the information needed to assess these factors; application forms and more specific directions will be posted later on the website.

   NEPTUNE Canada strongly encourages scientists to take the initiative in forming groups around particular observing systems as soon as possible. Foreign scientists are welcome to participate in these groups and in the proposal process, but part of the selection criteria will be based on benefits to Canadian research as noted above.

   The March 2005 selection deadline is needed to allow adequate time to develop and thoroughly test prototype and operational observing systems for a 2007 and 2008 installation on NEPTUNE.

   A science team is planned for each large observing system, drawn largely from those proposing research with the system. The science team will oversee the development, testing, evolution and acceptance of the prototype and operational observing system. It may include foreign scientists. Some observing systems may require no special development other than integration with NEPTUNE and comprise commercial off-the-shelf equipment (COTS). The purchase, development and construction of the observing systems will be through contracts managed by the NEPTUNE Canada office.

   Further information will be available in due course through the NEPTUNE Canada website.

   If you wish to be on the list for e-mailed alerts when new information is added to the website on this topic, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with the subject heading: NEPTUNE Canada OSA.

   [top]

4. Issuance of an RFQu (Request For Qualification) and a later RFP (Request For Proposal) for the "Wet Plant"

   The CFI funding regulations demand firm quotations to support the budget estimates. This means that Requests for Proposals (RFPs) will be issued for major components such as the cable/node system ("Wet Plant") and the Data Management and Archive System (DMAS). UVic will be issuing these at appropriate stages inviting industry, consortia or partnerships to submit bids. The first of these to be addressed will be the "Wet Plant" (from connection components in the shore station through the cable and nodes to the interface with the main observing systems).

   The initial step will be to issue a Request for Qualification (RFQu); this document will be posted on the NEPTUNE Canada website by February 6, 2004. It is expected that the RFP for the "Wet Plant" will be issued in early summer (May-June) with a three-month response period.

   [top]

5. NSF/NSERC ORION Workshop, Puerto Rico, Jan 4-8: brief summary

   A joint NSF/NSERC sponsored workshop was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 4-8, January 2004. The main goal was to formulate both the science priorities and educational opportunities that can be addressed using ocean observatories. The Ocean Research Interactive Observatories Network (ORION) workshop attracted 320 registrants from several countries. Details of the program are available from the websites: www.orionprogram.org and www.coreocean.org/orion. A series of invited talks on broad issues occurred on the first day, whereas the rest of the program was an alternating set of short plenary review sessions interspersed with longer working group sessions. Many working group papers were also solicited and can be accessed through these websites including a paper on NEPTUNE by Barnes, Delaney, Howe and Penrose.

   The registrants were divided into over 15 working groups and a number of other separate meetings (e.g. on cyberinfrastructure) were added.

   The broad elements of a Science Plan emerged, which will be now used by the ORION office which NSF has recently established to formalize the Science Plan as the basis for requesting an infrastructure initial investment of 200 million dollars over the next five years, as part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). Funding will be solicited from the NSF MREFC (Major Research Equipment Facilities and Construction) account. A provisional plan for the OOI expenditure for FY 2006-2010 appeared in the US President's proposed budget in February 2003 and hopefully will also occur in the 2004 proposed budget to be issued this week.

   There will be three components to the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) facilitating research in coastal, regional (spanning the coasts to the deep-ocean), and the deep-ocean. Science priorities will determine the OOI portfolio. The first Regional Cabled Observatory (RCO) was announced by NSF to be in the North-east Pacific. The science portfolio for the deep-sea array will likely include a variety of surface, subsurface and cabled mooring arrays. The coastal science portfolio will include both relocatable and fixed time series observatories.

   NEPTUNE Canada was able to secure a NSERC Special Research Opportunities grant that funded eight academics to attend the ORION Workshop, plus five other Canadians attended who were funded by other sources. Barnes provided a talk that summarized the funded observatory programs of NEPTUNE Canada, VENUS, Bonne Bay, and coastal Nova Scotia.

   The new ORION Office will be located in Washington, DC (1201 New York Avenue), and will be headed for the first two years by Ken Brink, who will be seconded half-time from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The office is currently seeking additional staff and NSF is arranging for an Executive Steering Committee.

   [top]

6. UVic/NSF MOU

   We intend the planning and installation phases funded by NEPTUNE Canada will be in partnership with the US agencies/institutions that will provide and receive funding through the ORION office for the Regional Cabled Observatory (RCO) in the North-east Pacific from the NSF MREFC (Major Research Equipment Facilities and Construction) account once officially approved.

   Two separate meetings in Victoria have been held with NSF staff to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UVic to ensure that the appropriate principles and procedures are established. A third meeting will be held in Washington, DC, in mid-March to meet with both NSF and ORION officials.

   [top]

7. Ocean Sciences Board established

   To better manage the NEPTUNE Canada Project, UVic has established an Ocean Science Board (OSB) that will report directly to the Board of Governors. The OSB will provide senior oversight and advice on NEPTUNE, VENUS and other ocean science initiatives that are being developed by UVic, commonly in partnership with other institutions. The new OSB Chair is Geoff Holland who has had a long, distinguished career with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), and in the international ocean policy arena and is one of the two Ocean Ambassadors established by DFO. Tim Walzak (President of UVic's Innovation and Development Corporation) is the pro tem Executive Director of the OSB and an additional staff member will be hired for support. The Board members comprise Geoff Holland, (Chair, 2we Associates Consulting Ltd., Victoria), Gail Gabel, (President, ESI Environmental Sensors Inc., Victoria), Paul Lacroix, (President and CEO, Ocean Innovative Systems Inc., Sidney), Dr. Kim Juniper, (Centre de recherché en Geochimie et en Geodynamique/UQAM, Montreal), Prof. Jeremy Hall, (Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University, St. John's), Wendy Watson-Wright, (Assistant Deputy Minister, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Ottawa), Peter Harrison, (Senior Research Fellow-Oceans, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa), Dr. James Baker, (President and CEO, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia), Dr. Arthur R.M. Nowell, (Dean, College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle), Dr. Martin Taylor, (VP, Research, UVic), Jack Falk, (VP, Finance and Operations, UVic), and Dr. Tom Pedersen, (Dean, Faculty of Science, UVic).

   [top]

8. Industry contacts

   With the funding awards to NEPTUNE Canada, considerable interest has been shown by the industrial sector in all aspects of the project. There have been many meetings to share information and discuss potential collaboration or contracts. NEPTUNE Canada is particularly interested in developing partnerships that can attract additional funding and/or in-kind support.

   [top]

Summary comment

Thus, with the receipt of funding for NEPTUNE Canada a range of activities will occur over the next year: the NEPTUNE Canada office will be staffed; there will be science workshops to consider the more precise location of the observatory nodes, the more detailed science experiments, sensor packages, and the needs for sensor/vehicle development; initial work on the location of a shore station, concurrent with the issuance of an RFQu and a later RFP for the "Wet Plant" (cable/nodes); learning from the developments in the VENUS and MARS Test-beds; and the start of the design of the DMAS. All of these require considerable dialogue with the scientific, engineering and local communities and with funding agencies, partners and industry. We welcome any comments and invite you to make contact through the various links and addresses that can be found on our website. Please also visit the VENUS website for the latest news and progress at www.venus.uvic.ca.

Components of this issue were prepared by Chris Barnes, John Garrett, Peter Phibbs and Elizabeth Redpath.

We appreciate your continuing interest in NEPTUNE. To receive current newsletters from NEPTUNE Canada, please join our mailing list.

[top]