A Decade of High-resolution Ocean Bottom Pressure Measurements in the
Northeast Pacific --- The NEPTUNE Observatory Turns 10 years old
Abstract
Ocean Networks Canada (ONC; http://www.oceannetworks.ca/) operates the
multidisciplinary NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories off the
west coast of Canada and an increasing number of miniature ocean
observatories, such as in the Canadian Arctic. All data collected by
these observatories are permanently archived and publicly available
through ONC’s Oceans 2.0 data portal. Much of the data are related to
marine geohazards, such as earthquakes, submarine landslides and
tsunamis and are delivered in real-time, including to early warning
centers. The NEPTUNE cabled observatory consists of an approximately
800-km long cable loop deployed off the west coast of Vancouver Island
that covers the coastal zone, the northern part of the Cascadia
subduction zone, Cascadia Basin and the Endeavour Segment of the Juan de
Fuca Ridge. The observatory includes several high-precision bottom
pressure recorders (BPRs) at each of its five active nodes. On September
30, 2009, just days after the first instruments were installed, six BPRs
on the array recorded tsunami waves of 2.5 to 6 cm amplitude originating
with the Mw 8.1 Samoa earthquake. The Samoan tsunami was followed by
several other events recorded by the network, including those of the
2010 Chilean tsunami, the 2011 Tōhoku-Oki tsunami, and the 2012 Haida
Gwaii tsunami. We will review the decade of open-access bottom pressure
recorder data, instrument development, and research findings across many
disciplines and give an outlook for future developments.