NEPTUNE

Neptune Canada (proper spelling: NEPTUNE Canada) is a 100 million Canadian -dollar deepwater project in Canada. It is located at the Juan de Fuca plate off Vancouver Iceland (West Coast of Canada) in up to 3000 meters depth and was named after the Roman sea god Neptune.

Planned are several networked labs with deep-sea underwater robots that remain on 24 hours a day and deliver live images directly to the Internet. In addition, geological information about the area are collected, including use of high-resolution video cameras, seismographs, probes, flow meters and Remotely Operated Vehicles ( diving robots ). In addition, underwater creatures can be observed.

Name

The name " NEPTUNE " is a Apronym from " North - East Pacific Time -series Undersea Networked Experiments" ( German: Northeast Pacific Time -series analysis and underwater network experiments).

Research area

Off the west coast of Canada is researched. The field begins in the east at the contact point between the Juan de Fuca plate, the smallest of the twelve tectonic plates of the Earth, which is located in the Northeast Pacific, and the North American plate and extends over 400 km to the east to where the Pacific Plate begins.

Devices

It can be used in the exploration of deep-sea observatories eleven. Each station is equipped with measuring devices and camera systems that are worth a total of about 100 million euros. In addition, ROVs are used. The stations are protected with cage structures to protect the devices against hazards such as sea animals or other influences.

The units are interconnected with over 2000 kilometers of power and fiber optic cables.

Project

The project is a so-called Open Data project: scientists can evaluate both the data and mitforschen itself. The advantage over the traditional research methods is that neither for each project additional costs or inserts must be made.

Objectives

The following are the objectives for the project: