NEPTUNE: Transforming Ocean and Earth Sciences with Distributed Submarine Sensor Networks Wired to Next Generation Internet

Interactive, Internet-linked sensor-robotic networks are the next-generation approach to enabling long-term 24/7/365 surveillance of major remote or dangerous processes that are central to the habitability of our planet. The NEPTUNE ocean observatory program will be a leader in this approach. The observatory´s 1400-mile network of heavily instrumented fiber-optic/power cable will convert a major sector of the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate and its overlying ocean off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia into an internationally accessible interactive, real-time natural laboratory reaching millions of users or viewers via the Internet. NEPTUNE is being designed to provide scientists, educators, policy makers, and the public with unprecedented forms of novel information about a broad host of natural and human-induced processes operating within the ocean basins. Data management and visualization challenges include handling large volumes of multidisciplinary data streams; assimilating real-time data into models; and providing data discovery and visualization tools that enable collaborative discovery by groups of researchers.