Canadian NEPTUNE Newsletter for October 2003

Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to bring you the October 2003 issue of NEPTUNE Canada NewsNotes. There has been a long period since the last issue in December 2002; each month we felt that there was a chance of the funding announcement and hence a new issue. We now have that breakthrough that sets NEPTUNE Canada on a new footing and schedule for implementation. In this issue, we bring details of the funding news, the next steps, action of the US scene, the ORION meeting in January 2004, etc. Future issues will be sent on a more frequent basis and we welcome your ideas and response at any time.

1. FUNDING NEWS

Success at last!!! On Friday 17 October in Victoria, a formal announcement confirmed the full funding of $62.4 million to the University of Victoria for NEPTUNE Canada. The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) provided $31.9 million and the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF) contributed $30.5 million. This is the largest single award given by BCKDF and one of the largest by CFI. A provisional award was made by CFI in June 2002, but with seven conditions, one being that matching funds be secured. It has taken over a year to successfully pass through the application and review process of BCKDF and to deal with the other conditions. As you will appreciate, the NEPTUNE Canada application was large and complex and the conditions imposed involved several aspects of ownership, risk and liability which have devolved to UVic as the lead applicant in the consortium of 12 Canadian universities. On behalf all the researchers who have participated in the workshops and continued to work through the application and review process, and to the many institutions that have provided financial and in kind support, we express our sincere gratitude to CFI and BCKDF in providing this huge award to enable the installation of the Canadian part of the NEPTUNE facility. UVic is placing a large ad to express its thanks for the award on behalf of the consortium in Tuesday's Globe and Mail (21 Oct.).

The initial media announcement was made on the deck of the Tully, the principal DFO research vessel on the west coast. A larger celebration took place shortly afterwards at a nearby hotel to a group of nearly 200 supporters. Short speeches announcing the awards and of appreciation were given by Shirley Bond (BC Minister of Advanced Education), David Strangway (President, CFI), David Anderson (Minister of the Environment), David Turpin (President, UVic), John Delaney (Program Director, NEPTUNE Project) and Chris Barnes (Project Director, NEPTUNE Canada). A short (5 min.) video was produced by CFI that profiled NEPTUNE as one of the recipients of funding through the International Access Fund. Details of the press releases, backgrounders, and access to the video and images can be obtained via the websites of CFI and NEPTUNE Canada; the main website of NEPTUNE is maintained by the University of Washington program office.

2. NEXT STEPS

NEPTUNE Canada staff.
The funding provides salary support for a management team of a dozen staff, with other contributions through contracts. Most new staff positions will be advertised in the media, on the UVic website, and on the NEPTUNE Canada website. Chris Barnes has been acting as full time Project Director since July 2002, with part time assistance of Debbie Smith (Executive Assistant) and interim help by first Andrew Hamilton and now Melissa Rotella. Interviews have been completed for the position of Manager of Finance and Administration. Interviews are soon to be held for the position of Associate Director, Engineering and Operations. Advertisements for senior positions for the Data Management and Archive System and Science Director(s) will follow in coming weeks.

Headquarters space
UVic is providing space to co-locate both the staff groups of NEPTUNE Canada and VENUS in a new building on campus funded through the Discover Parks Trust. This will be occupied in early January, 2004, and is a factor in the timing of appointing staff. More details on location co-ordinates will be given in the next issue.

Ocean Sciences Board
The Management structure proposed in the CFI application called for an oversight Board to which the Project Director and staff would report. UVic has established an Ocean Sciences Board for this purpose that will also oversee VENUS (Verena Tunnicliffe, Project Director) and be proactive in linking these projects to other ocean initiatives. A Founding Board was established early in 2003 to define the scope and terms of reference for the Board. Appointments to the Board are currently in progress and will be announced soon. The Board will be supported by a full time Executive Director and and Administrative Assistant, the pro tem Executive Director is Dr. Tim Walzak who has temporarily relinquished his position as President of UVic's Innovation and Development Corporation. This Board will report directly to the UVic Board of Governors and will pay special attention to ensuring that the project stays on budget and on schedule and represents the interests of the consortium of the 12 Canadian universities.

Forthcoming activities.
The NEPTUNE Canada office will, early in 2004, organize a process, partly based on workshops, to establish the range of specific experiments being proposed using the nodes planned for Canadian waters. It will likewise call for input on the basic sensor suites for the nodes, on sensors appropriate to the scientific questions being studied at particular nodes, and suggestions for the development or modification of instruments or technologies. Approximately $13 million will be available for instruments and new instrument development.

3. Developments in the US

The Ocean Observatories Initiatives
Early in 2003, in the US President's proposed budget to Congress, there was the unprecedented proposal to fund the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) at US$208 million in Fiscal Years 2006-10. This included the Regional Cabled Observatory (RCO, e.g. NEPTUNE) component. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has called for proposals to set up an OOI national office to administer the Requests For Proposals (RFPs); the decision on which proponent will run the office is expected to be made by December 2003. Funding for an RCO could therefore be anticipated to be initiated in latest 2005 or early 2006. However, a joint letter from the Presidents of UVic and CFI has requested that NSF seek ways to advance that decision by a year in order to have a similar five year installation window to the Canadians.

Recent workshops
In the US, some recent science workshops were held to consider various aspects of an RCO in the North-east Pacific. The first was held at Portland, Oregon, in April, and the comprehensive draft report has just been issued. The second was organized (July, Seattle) to see how the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) will mesh with a RCO. A third was sponsored by NSF in San Francisco in October to decide, independently of the NEPTUNE planning process, the best location for an RCO and of its topology and node locations. Fortunately, the meeting appears to have agreed that the best location is indeed in the North-east Pacific (Juan de Fuca Plate region) and that the scientific priorities would favour a topology and node location similar to that proposed by the NEPTUNE group. If NSF accepts the findings of the workshop, then it is likely to confirm that the RCO will be in that location prior to the next major meeting: ORION.

ORION Workshop, January 2004, Puerto Rico
The ORION Workshop (Ocean Research Integrated Observatory Networks) will be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 4-8 January, 2004. This is a meeting jointly sponsored by NSF and NSERC and over 250 people have registered to date. It will cover all three aspects of the OOI: coastal, regional and global moored buoy observatory systems. It will make recommendations that will be instrumental in shaping the amount and division of funds to be awarded through the OOI office via one or more RFPs to these three components. CANADIANS ARE URGED TO ATTEND THE ORION MEETING. Details were sent out a few weeks ago. Chris Barnes has applied for a NSERC SRO grant to provide travel support for at least a dozen or more Canadians to attend (who are eligible to apply for NSERC grants); this requires a two-stage application process and the first stage was recently approved. We will not have confirmation of this funding prior to the registration and accommodation booking deadlines. Consequently, you are urged to book accommodation and register immediately and we will try to provide some financial support later; please email Chris Barnes ([email protected]) if you do expect to attend.

Chris Barnes and John Madden

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

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