Major observatories
ONC operates two major cabled observatories: the North East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE) observatory, off the west coast of Vancouver Island and the Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) observatory in the Salish Sea.
NEPTUNE provides high-resolution and near real-time observations of the ocean as deep as 2.6km below the surface. It consists of a shore station and an 850 kilometre loop of fibre-optic cable on the seafloor, providing power and Internet connectivity to thousands of scientific sensors as well as cameras and hydrophones.
VENUS is ONC’s original and shallower inshore observatory, located in the Saanich Inlet and the Strait of Georgia, with scientific instruments at depths of up to 300 metres.
High resolution, continuous, free, open data from these major observatories can be accessed via ONC’s digital infrastructure Oceans 3.0.
Map of Ocean Networks Canada observing systems along the Southern coast of British Columbia.
Community observatories
Modelled on our large cabled observatories, community observatories are small versions tailored to the needs of coastal and Indigenous communities. These cabled ocean observing systems make it possible for community members to conduct year-round continuous monitoring of their own ocean environments.
In March 2016, ONC installed a community ocean observatory at Kitamaat Village, on the northern coast of British Columbia.
