Modular Seafloor and Water Column Systems for the Ocean Observatories Initiative Cabled Array

Dana Manalang1, Michael Harrington1, James Tilley1, Jesse Dosher1, Geoff Cram1, Gary Harkins1, Chuck McGuire1, Patrick Waite1, Eric McRae2, Tim McGinnis1, Mike Kenney1, Chris Siani1, Nicolas Michel-Hart1, Skip Denny1, Eric Boget1, John R Delaney3, Orest Eduard Kawka4, Kendra L Daly5, Douglas S Luther6, Deborah S Kelley7 and Matthew Milcic8, (1)University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab, Seattle, WA, United States, (2)University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory, Electronic and Photonic Systems, Seattle, WA, United States, (3)University of Washington Seattle Campus, Seattle, WA, United States, (4)University of Washington, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States, (5)University of South Florida Tampa, Tampa, FL, United States, (6)University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States, (7)University of Washington Seattle Campus, School of Oceanography, Seattle, WA, United States, (8)University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab
Abstract:
Over the past decade, cabled ocean observatories have become an increasingly important way to collect continuous real-time data at remote subsea locations. This has led to the development of a class of subsea systems designed and built specifically to distribute power and bandwidth among sensing instrumentation on the seafloor and throughout the water column. Such systems are typically powered by shore-based infrastructure and involve networks of fiber optic and electrical cabling that provide real-time data access and control of remotely deployed instrumentation. Several subsea node types were developed and/or adapted for cabled use in order to complete the installation of the largest North American scientific cabled observatory in Oct, 2014. The Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Cabled Array, funded by the US National Science Foundation, consists of a core infrastructure that includes 900 km of fiber optic/electrical cables, seven primary nodes, 18 seafloor junction boxes, three mooring-mounted winched profiling systems, and three wire-crawling profiler systems. In aggregate, the installed infrastructure has 200 dedicated scientific instrument ports (of which 120 are currently assigned), and is capable of further expansion. The installed system has a 25-year design life for reliable, sustained monitoring; and all nodes, profilers and instrument packages are ROV-serviceable. Now in it’s second year of operation, the systems that comprise the Cabled Array are providing reliable, 24/7 real-time data collection from deployed instrumentation, and offer a modular and scalable class of subsea systems for ocean observing. This presentation will provide an overview of the observatory-class subsystems of the OOI Cabled Array, focusing on the junction boxes, moorings and profilers that power and communicate with deployed instrumentation.
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