Project NEPTUNE: an interactive, regional cabled ocean observatory in the Northeast Pacific

Next-generation studies of dynamic, interacting processes in the Earth-ocean-climate system require new interactive, in situ approaches to complement and fundamentally extend the more traditional ship-based expeditionary science that has dominated oceanographic research for more than 100 years. Key to these studies are regional cabled ocean observatories. A US/Canadian consortium is building NEPTUNE, a regional observatory in the northeast Pacific that will be spatially associated with the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate.