The deep seas have a lot to tell. Pressure changes in these waters can warn that a tsunami is on its way. The concentration of carbon dioxide gives an indication of the oceans acidity and acoustic signals can tell us which fish stocks are in the water column.
Today, scientists travel on oceangoing vessels and take several series of samples during the year. These samples help them to evaluate and explain the condition of the oceans.
But new technology makes it possible to carry out a continuous series of tests. Scientists want to establish underwater ocean observatories along the Norwegian coast that will monitor conditions minute by minute.
- Expeditions are okay, but this is much better. We envision being able to sit in the office and control everything over the internet, says Professor Peter M. Haugan.
Haugan is institute leader at the Geophysical Institute and project leader of COSMOS. This is a collaborative project and includes ten other institutions. The project has applied to The Research Council of Norway (NFR) for infrastructure funding to the tune of 188 million Norwegian crowns. NFR is expected to reply before the summer.
Real time data
The network has invited suppliers of underwater equipment to attend a workshop that will be held in Bergen tomorrow.
The project’s main goal is to install observatories in the deep waters off the continental shelf. These observatories will have monitoring equipment that will provide almost every type of deep sea data that one could wish for. Scientists will be able to receive a continuous stream of data about the current, the temperature and saline content, take earthquake measurements, sound recordings and also receive pictures from the seabed, of coral reefs for example (illustration below).
The scientists hope that they will eventually be able to build robots that can move along the ocean floor taking samples and filming the conditions.
There are plans to establish ocean observatories in Vesterålen and west of Spitsbergen, if the project receives funding from NFR. A pilot installation is already in place. From his office at the Geophysical Institute, Peter M. Haugan is able to see what is currently happening in Masfjord, with the aid of echo sounding equipment. Data is transported from fjord to land by a 10 kilometre long stretch of cable.
- This enables us to translate date continuously and we are always able to see which fish are there, explains Haugan.
New deep-sea ROV
The ocean observatory will consist of a number of nodes on the ocean floor that will function as coupling stations for various instruments.
In order to connect and disconnect the monitor to the nodes on the ocean floor, the scientists will need to use a remote controlled underwater vessel (ROV). There are no ROVs in Norway at present that are built for this type of scientific activity. The Centre for Geobiology has used a specially adapted ROV for a number of years. This ROV was originally designed for industrial use and was the one that was used by scientists when they discovered thermal springs along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in 2008.
The centre has applied to the Research Council of Norway for funding amounting to 30 million Norwegian crowns, which will be used to build a new deep-sea ROV.
- We need vessels that are built to carry scientific equipment and that can dive to depths of at least 4000 metres, and maybe 6000 metres. This will be a much sturdier craft and it will contain a lot of scientific equipment, says Dir. Rolf-Birger Pedersen at the Centre for Geobiology.
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Various types of scientific equipment can be connected to the underwater observatories which can then send a continuous stream of data back to land. Scientists would eventually like to develop robots that can take samples from the seabed. (Illustration: COSMOS)
International cooperation
Canada leads the world as far as ocean laboratories are concerned and last year they laid several hundred kilometres of cable off the coast of Vancouver Island. Japan has a number of earthquake and tsunami warning stations.
- Groups of people in several European countries are also trying to help us with this. COSMOS will become part of the European collaboration. For example, Germany does a lot of arctic research and is one of the countries that are particularly interested in receiving data from Spitsbergen, says Haugan.
- We envision Norway playing an important role in mapping conditions at the bottom of the deep oceans. This will provide us with information about natural processes and about the changes caused by mankind.
The collaboration will also become a part of SIOS (Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System).
Several milieus have collaborated with each other, with the goal of establishing an ocean observatory in mind, and three years ago they became the NOON network (Norwegian Ocean Observatory Network). The UiB is participating with milieus from the Department of Earth Science, the Geophysical Institute, the Department of Biology and the Department of Chemistry.
Three ocean observatories have been planned so far, a fjord observatory in Masfjord which already supplies data, a deep-sea station off the coast of Vesterålen and one west of Spitsbergen. The two last are marked in red. (Illustration: COSMOS)