VENUS - a bottom up approach to building an ocean observing system

The University of Victoria´s VENUS coastal observatory is the most technologically advanced system of its kind. Forty five kilometers of telecom cable link two shore stations to three primary science sites at 100, 170 and 300 m depth in Saanich Inlet and the Strait of Georgia, respectively. These science sites are flush with instrumentation and sensing systems, from cameras and streaming hydrophones, to physical and chemical sensors, and since 2006 have been sampling the near and far field 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.