A huge opportunity has arrived for UVic through its Oceans Network Canada (ONC) initiative.
This project, which is now underway, will see scientists from Spain and UVic’s ONC take specialized equipment that was built in Victoria, to be put to work in a subsea observatory in Antarctica.
There, scientists will work from a Spanish Antarctic station to provide year-round, near real-time data on the oceanic conditions. This is the first time ONC personnel will be extending its ocean monitoring outside of Canadian waters.
A Spanish vessel, the Hespérides, is transporting the ONC’s observatory and it is already enroute from Argentina as of this publication.
The observatory is headed to Juan Carlos I, a Spanish station located on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands Archipelago just north of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Hespérides is also carrying deep-sea monitoring floats that will be dropped in the Drake Passage along the way.
ONC president and CEO, Kate Moran says this partnership is a big deal for polar scientific collaboration.
“Ocean Networks Canada has been monitoring Arctic conditions since 2012 through its network of Indigenous community-led and remote coastal observatories that provide continuous ocean data,” Moran said.
“ONC’s expertise in designing and successfully operating underwater observatories able to withstand harsh polar conditions will contribute to Spain’s scientific expertise in monitoring Antarctica, a continent that is critical to this planet’s climate system, and is undergoing rapid, consequential changes that we need to understand.”
The data provided by this joint venture could be pivotal in understanding how climate change is impacting Antarctic waters, and how those changes will affect the rest of the world.
“It’s exciting to see ONC’s transformative leadership in ocean science expand internationally to inform climate solutions beyond Canada’s three coasts,” says Lisa Kalynchuk, vice-president, research and innovation, at UVic and member of ONC’s board of directors.
“This partnership demonstrates how coastal communities and scientists from around the world can drive technological innovation and scientific discovery.”
Those who are interested can track the voyage of the Hespérides and its ONC cargo online here.
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