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Canada's ocean science community which includes the federal government, academia, small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and other research partners, collect and synthesize physical, chemical and biological ocean observations. This information is used for discovery research purposes, to model ocean changes and provide environmental assessment advice, support resource management decision-making, and establish baseline data for long-term monitoring. Canada's ocean community collects large amounts of data but, aside from building comprehensive ocean observatories (Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) et al. 2010), there is no easy mechanism to integrate data from various sources to allow the exploration of interrelationships among variables, and no coordination and collaboration mechanism for the ocean community as a whole to generate an efficient system (Ocean Science and Technology Partnership (OSTP) and for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) 2011). Consequently, we observe fragmented and isolated data -- which may never be used outside of a specific project because it is not discoverable by other potential end users. Canada's ocean science community (Wallace et al. 2014), led and supported by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), is advancing the development of a Canadian Integrated Ocean Observation System (CIOOS) that brings together and leverages existing Canadian and international ocean observation data into a federated data system which will generate value for users. This integrated ocean observing system (Wilson et al. 2016) will improve coordination and collaboration among diverse data producers, improve access to information for decision making, and enable discovery and access to data to support a wide variety of applied and theoretical research efforts to better understand, monitor, and manage activities in Canada's oceans. Conceptual discussions on CIOOS have taken place with Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Department of National Defence, DFO, and the academic and NGO sector. Work is underway on four closely-linked projects to move CIOOS from the concept stage to the design stage, covering key areas required to develop a robust and integrated observing system: 1. Governance; 2. Data and observations; 3. Cyber Infrastructure; and, 4. Visualization tools. The project teams are evaluating the current ocean observing landscape in Canada (what exists, who has it, and what state is it in), the standards followed, and the gaps, limits or barriers to setting up an integrated ocean observing system. From this they will develop a list of recommendations to support the implementation of CIOOS, which will include which standards to use, the resources required (FTE, capital investment, capabilities), and the best practices to follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first cabled ocean observatories demonstrate the challenges, benefits, and opportunities for ocean science and commercial applications. NEPTUNE Canada's 800-km subsea infrastructure and 130 diverse instruments established the world's first regional cabled ocean observatory, northeast Pacific Ocean, off Canada's coast. Introducing abundant power and high bandwidth communications into coastal to abyssal environments allows discrimination between short- and long-term events, interactive experiments, real-time data and imagery, and multidisciplinary teams interrogating a vast database over 25 years. The principal scientific themes addressed through the NEPTUNE Canada infrastructure are: plate tectonic processes and earthquake dynamics; dynamic processes of seabed fluid fluxes and gas hydrates; regional ocean/climate dynamics and effects on marine biota; deep-sea ecosystem dynamics; and engineering and computational research. Resulting data can be applied to important science issues such as ocean/climate change, ocean acidification, natural hazards, and nonrenewable and renewable natural resources. Socioeconomic benefits include many applications in sovereignty, security, transportation, data services, and public policy. The Data Management and Archive System has largely been developed internally. It controls the observatory network and gives transparent access using interoperability techniques within a Web 2.0 environment. The principal challenges encountered during design, installation, and operations involve technical innovations, enlarging the user base, management, securing funding, maximizing educational/outreach, and commercialization opportunities. Cabled ocean observatories are progressively wiring the oceans. Expandable in footprint, nodes, instruments, and scientific questions, they provide testing technology facilities and generate new research opportunities and socioeconomic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Presents a review of the oceanographic properties in the vicinity of Ocean Station Papa (OSP) in Canada. Description of the physical and chemical properties of the upper ocean both at OSP and along Line P, a series of oceanographic stations; Impacts of the 1982 El Nio; Possible effects of physical and chemical variability on ecology.

The article offers information on Ocean Networks Canada which operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories off the western coast of Canada. Topics include the how the NEPTUNE cabled observatory monitors the continental shelf and slope off the west coast of Vancouver Island and the northern part of the Juan de Fuca Plate, the instruments used by the VENUS cabled observatory in monitoring the Fraser River delta's main channel off of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The article provides information on NEPTUNE Canada (North-East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments), the network ocean monitoring project launched in December 2009. It says that the project has placed 800 kilometres of cable for power and data transmission spanning the Juan de Fuca plate. Results generated by the project include seismometer readings during the February 2010 Chilean earthquake and bottom-pressure sensor which tracks the tsunami wave generated by the earthquake.