The NEPTUNE Ocean Observatory project is part of Ocean Networks Canada which is a University of Victoria initiative. NEPTUNE is the world's first regional-scale underwater ocean observatory that plugs directly into the Internet . NEPTUNE is the largest installation on the Ocean Networks Canada network of ocean observatories. Since December 2009, it has allowed people to "surf" the seafloor while ocean scientists run deep-water experiments from labs and universities around the world. Along with its sister project, VENUS , NEPTUNE offers a unique approach to ocean science. Traditionally, ocean scientists have relied on infrequent ship cruises or space-based satellites to carry out their research, while the NEPTUNE project uses a remotely operated crawler.
23-530: NEPTUNE is an acronym for N orth- E ast P acific T ime-series U ndersea N etworked E xperiments. The North-East Pacific is home to the Juan de Fuca Plate —smallest of Earth's 12 tectonic plates . Its small size and close proximity to the coast gives NEPTUNE Canada a unique opportunity to observe tectonic processes. NEPTUNE Canada is built to provide continuous observations for 25 years. The time-series data gathered will allow scientists to study long-term changes over
46-451: A 150 kilometres (93 mi) deep tear in the plate along a "preexisting zone of weakness". According to William B. Hawley and Richard M. Allen, the authors of the study, the hole may be the cause of volcanism and earthquakes on the plate, and is causing deformation of the offshore part of the plate. The deformation may cause the plate to fragment, with the remaining un-subducted small pieces becoming attached to other plates nearby. In 2016,
69-520: A geophysical study was published on the possible presence of a layer of buoyant material between the Earth's lithosphere and the asthenosphere under the Juan de Fuca plate. The study extends the theory of partial melt in the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary to subduction zones, specifically in the convergent margins. Using teleseismic body-wave tomography , a low-velocity zone of thickness 50~100 km in
92-622: Is a transform boundary with the Pacific plate along the Mendocino Fault . The westerly side is a divergent boundary with the Pacific plate forming the Gorda Ridge . This ridge provides morphological evidence of differing spreading rates, with the northern portion of the ridge being narrow, and the southern portion being wide. The northerly side is a transform boundary with the Juan de Fuca plate ,
115-457: Is believed that they were killed when the earthquake occurred and sank the ground beneath them causing the trees to be flooded by saltwater. Japanese records indicate that a tsunami occurred in Japan on 26 January 1700, which was likely caused by this earthquake. In 2008, small earthquakes were observed within the Juan de Fuca plate. The unusual quakes were described as "more than 600 quakes over
138-595: The Pacific Ocean and is the largest of Earth's tectonic plates). The Juan de Fuca plate itself has since fractured into three pieces, and the name is applied to the entire plate in some references, but in others only to the central portion. The three fragments are differentiated as such: the piece to the south is known as the Gorda plate and the piece to the north is known as the Explorer plate . The separate pieces are demarcated by
161-657: The Pacific Ocean off the coast of northern California , is one of the northern remnants of the Farallon plate . It is sometimes referred to (by, for example, publications from the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program) as simply the southernmost portion of the neighboring Juan de Fuca plate , another Farallon remnant. Unlike most tectonic plates , the Gorda plate experiences significant intraplate deformation inside its boundaries. Numerous faults have been mapped in both
184-565: The Cascadia subduction zone was the 1700 Cascadia earthquake , estimated to have a moment magnitude of 8.7 to 9.2. Based on carbon dating of local tsunami deposits , it is inferred to have occurred around 1700. Evidence of this earthquake is also seen in the ghost forest along the bank of the Copalis River in Washington. The rings of the dead trees indicate that they died around 1700, and it
207-584: The Juan de Fuca, Gorda , Cocos and the Nazca plates, all four of which were part of the Farallon plate . The Juan de Fuca plate is bounded on the south by the Blanco Fracture Zone (running northwest off the coast of Oregon ), on the north by the Nootka Fault (running southwest off Nootka Island , near Vancouver Island , British Columbia ) and along the west by the Pacific plate (which covers most of
230-671: The Vancouver plate between the break-up of the Farallon plate c. 55–52 Ma and the activation of the San Andreas Fault c. 30 Ma. The Juan de Fuca plate system has its origins with Panthalassa 's oceanic basin and crust . This oceanic crust has primarily been subducted under the North American plate , and the Eurasian plate . Panthalassa's oceanic plate remnants are understood to be
253-533: The atmosphere. In 2019, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley , published a study in Geophysical Research Letters in which they reported that by utilizing data from over 30,000 seismic waves and 217 earthquakes to create a three-dimensional map, they had revealed the existence of a hole in the subducted part of the Juan de Fuca plate, and speculated that the hole is an indication of
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#1733092656271276-411: The edge of the network of the system and the main receiver UVIC DMAS. The shore station is linked to the first branching unit followed by five other branching units that are also linked to other branching units. This solid connection spur cable|forms a ring-shaped SONET network that has two cables in order to control the network traffic in two directions. A two-by-two Gbit/s data channel is implemented on
299-682: The large offsets of the undersea spreading zone. This subducting plate system has formed the Cascade Range , the Cascade Volcanic Arc , and the Pacific Ranges , along the west coast of North America from southern British Columbia to northern California . These in turn are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire , a much larger-scale volcanic feature that extends around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean . The last megathrust earthquake at
322-459: The life of the project. In NEPTUNE Canada network traffic, four network channels are defined in the network description file based on the data provided. The first channel provides a ten Gbit/s data rate between UVIC (University of Victoria) DMAS (Data Management and Archive Station) and a shore station in Port Alberni. This channel has the largest volume in the system, and is located in between
345-532: The life of the project. Instruments comprising the undersea observatory will operate at depths ranging from 17 to 2,660 m. Hundreds of instruments have been connected to the Internet by way of shielded cables carrying both power and fibre-optic communication lines. A database will archive and provide networked access to all archived data. Taking advantage of this platform, scientists collaborating with NEPTUNE are expected to conduct thousands of unique experiments over
368-409: The network channels transmit the data with 0.1 delay rate. Junction box to junction box and instrument to instrument connections are implemented with either one Gbit/s or one hundred Gbit/s data rates. More than ten components cannot be connected to a single junction box. Instruments can be linked to junction boxes or any other instrument through either data channel. The instruments are the final spots of
391-442: The past 10 days in a basin 150 miles [240 km] southwest of Newport ". The quakes were unlike most quakes in that they did not follow the pattern of a large quake, followed by smaller aftershocks; rather, they were simply a continual deluge of small quakes. Furthermore, they did not occur on the tectonic plate boundary, but rather in the middle of the plate. The subterranean quakes were detected on hydrophones , and scientists described
414-417: The regional network branches. The data flows from the instruments through the edge of each regional branch toward UVIC DMAS by following a secure and shortest path, as configured by the network configurator used by NEPTSim. Juan de Fuca Plate The Juan de Fuca plate is a small tectonic plate ( microplate ) generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that is subducting beneath the northerly portion of
437-570: The sediments and basement of the Gorda Basin, which is in the interior of the plate south of 41.6°N. Stresses from the neighboring North American plate and Pacific plate cause frequent earthquakes in the interior of the plate, including the 1980 Eureka earthquake (also known as the Gorda Basin event). The easterly side is the Cascadia subduction zone where the plate subducts under the North American plate in northern California. The southerly side
460-454: The sounds as similar to thunder, and unlike anything previously recorded. The basaltic formations of the Juan de Fuca plate could potentially be suitable for long-term CO 2 sequestration as part of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system. Injection of CO 2 would lead to the formation of stable carbonates. It is estimated that 100 years of US carbon emissions (at current rate) could be stored securely, without risk of leakage back into
483-542: The spur cable, and each branching unit is connected to a regional node station. The connection between node stations and branching units provide one Gbit/s using a fiber-optic cable. Six node stations split the backhaul into six regions and the network behavior in between each regions' devices is identical. Similar to the connections between node stations and branching units, node stations are linked to junction boxes at one Gbit/s. Junction boxes can be linked to instruments and other junction boxes with different data channels. All
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#1733092656271506-524: The sublithospheric region beneath the Juan de Fuca plate was detected. The observation, along with fluid-mechanical calculations that factor in Couette and Poiseuille flows , support the hypothesis of the accumulation of a buoyant material, characterized by low viscosity. The exact source of this anomaly remains unknown, although its highly-conductive nature and low-seismic wave velocity are well observed. Gorda plate The Gorda plate , located beneath
529-460: The western side of the North American plate at the Cascadia subduction zone . It is named after the explorer of the same name . One of the smallest of Earth's tectonic plates, the Juan de Fuca plate is a remnant part of the once-vast Farallon plate , which is now largely subducted underneath the North American plate. In plate tectonic reconstructions, the Juan de Fuca plate is referred to as
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