Innovation Anthology #128: Senior Engineering Associate
When NEPTUNE Canada comes on stream in 2009, the internet will sink from cyber-space into the depths of the deep blue sea.
The project, a Canadian first, is a collaboration between the University of Victoria, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and other partners.
The network consists of fibre optic cable laid in an 800 kilometer ring on the ocean floor off Canada’s west coast.
According to Dr. Mairi Best of NEPTUNE Canada, the network will feature five different underwater stations where researchers can plug in their scientific instruments, then transfer data via the internet.
DR. MAIRI BEST: We’re trying to open up and promote understanding at all levels about the ocean which is 70 percent of our planet. And it is spectacular how little we know about 70 percent of our planet. And these are areas that have implications for climate. Off the west coast it’s also a major location for earthquakes and tsunamis and so on. Fish stocks, things like that that we really don’t know the fundamental mechanisms that drive these things, let alone, for example, how these things may change in the face of changing climate.
Dr. Best expects NEPTUNE Canada to receive 50 terabytes of data each year.
Thanks today to the Canada Foundation for Innovation
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
Warren Zubot,
Syncrude Canada Ltd, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,
Sponsor
Canada Foundation for Innovation
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure—state-of-the-art equipment, laboratories, databases, and the buildings necessary to conduct research. The CFI’s mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians.
Since its creation in 1997, CFI investments in research infrastructure have lead to breakthroughs in areas such as health, natural resources, information and communications technology, energy, and the environment.
La Fondation canadienne pour l’innovation (FCI) est un organisme autonome créé par le gouvernement du Canada pour financer l’infrastructure de recherche—l’équipement de pointe, les laboratoires, les bases de données de même que les bâtiments nécessaires pour mener des travaux de recherche. Le mandat de la FCI est de renforcer la capacité des universités, des collèges et des hôpitaux de recherche, de même que des établissements de recherche à but non lucratif du Canada de mener des projets de recherche et de développement technologique de calibre mondial qui produisent des retombées pour les Canadiens.
Depuis la création de la FCI en 1997, les investissements qu’elle a faits dans l’infrastructure ont mené à des percées dans des domaines tels que la santé, les ressources naturelles, les technologies de l’information et des communications, l’énergie et l’environnement.
Program Date: 2008-04-24