Image Archive

Mikelle Nuwer, UW 

UW Undergraduate Student

Michael F. Vardaro, Assistant Professor College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences

Chris Hoyt

Dennis Manning

OOI RSN Primary Node 3B was launched from the aft deck of the TE SubCom Dependable at 0705h PDT on 18 August 2012. This was the seventh, and final, node installation on the OOI RSN cabled infrastructure. --Photo by Brian Ittig

OOI RSN Primary Node 3A (PN3A) on the aft deck of the TE SubCom Dependable. Cable segment 6 is on the port sheave (to the right in this photo) and cable segment 7 is on the center sheave (to the left in this photo). --Photo by Brian Ittig

PN3A was launched from the aft deck of the TE SubCom Dependable at 2245h PDT on 16 August. --Photo by Brian Ittig

Location of the 900 km high-power and bandwidth US Regional Scale Nodes cabled observatory in the Northeast Pacific. The backbone cables and seven primary nodes provide power and bandwidth to secondary infrastructure (instruments, junction boxes, medium power nodes, full water column moorings) at key scientific study sites along the Juan de Fuca plate and in the overlying ocean. A shore station located at Pacific City, Oregon brings the power and communications onshore where data are passed off to the terrestrial fiber. Real-time capabilities of the RSN through the Internet will provide unprecedented data flow and two-way communications to many hundreds of sensors. OOI infrastructure also includes a series of uncabled moorings as part of the Coastal Scale nodes, with data transmission through satellite communications.

Down looking mosaic of the ~ 4 m tall black smoker chimneys 'Inferno' and 'Mushroom' in the ASHES vent field. A network of fractures with variable intensity of diffuse flow host white bacterial mats and tube worms. Also shown is a corresponding vertical mosaic of Inferno hosting dense colonies of tube worms and limpets.   PLEASE NOTE: This image is not available for usage.

RSN is developing state-of-the-art high power (3 kW) and bandwidth (1 Gbs) full water column moorings that will include a broad suite of sensors, an instrumented deep profiler, a 200 m platform and an instrumented winched shallow profiler. 

Final pre-deployment configuration of OOI RSN Primary Node 5A. --Photo by Brian Ittig

Before deployment of OOI RSN Primary Node 5A, the spare Science Interface Assembly that had been used in the node for on-deck testing, was transfered back to the spare primary node carried on board the TE SubCom Dependable. --Photo by Brian Ittig

OOI RSN Primary Node 5A is deployed in the middle of the night off the aft deck of the TE SubCom Dependable. --Photo by Brian Ittig

The TE SubCom Dependable maneuvers close to the buoy to recover the attached cable end. --Photo by Brian Ittig

Assist vessel, F/V Iron Lady, repositions the cable segment 5 buoy for recovery by the TE SubCom Dependable. --Photo by Brian Ittig

Side view of Primary Node 5A is shown here on the deck of the TE SubCom Dependable, with the spare Science Interface Assembly (SIA) installed in the node for testing. Prior to deployment, this SIA will be transferred to the spare primary node frame that is also carried onboard. PN5A, when installed, will have no SIA since it is a placeholder node for potential future expansion. --Photo by Brian Ittig

Primary Node 5A is shown here on the deck of the TE SubCom Dependable, with the spare Science Interface Assembly (SIA) installed in the node for testing. Prior to deployment, this SIA will be transferred to the spare primary node frame that is also carried onboard. PN5A, when installed, will have no SIA since it is a placeholder node for potential future expansion. --Photo by Brian Ittig

Expeditions Primary Image

The RSN spans major components of the Juan de Fuca plate (e.g. Axial Volcano,  Cascadia Subduction Zone, and Southern Hydrate Ridge), and sites focused on major oceanographic processes that include upwelling along the continental margin, ocean acidification, and climate change. Backbone cable (900 km) connects 7 primary nodes,  providing 8 kW power and 10 Gbs communications to secondary infrastructure at key work sites. During the VISIONS13 Expedition, 22 km of extension cables were installed, 3 J-Boxes, and a variety of sensors that await connection to the Primary Infrastructure. The system will be completed in 2014, comprising >100 seafloor and water column instruments - all connected to the Internet through the OOI Cyberinfrastructure. This observatory will provide real-time transmission of geophysical, geological, chemical, and biological data to address high priority science questions critical to understanding process linkages within our oceans.

Technology Primary Image

Education Primary Image

Research Primary Image

About Primary Image

Shown here is the OOI RSN Primary Node installation vessel, the TE SubCom Dependable, passing by Astoria, Oregon. Smaller vessel alongside is the pilot boat, Connor Foss, which transferred the Columbia River Pilot to and from the ship. --Photo by Scott McMullen, OFCC

Shown here are the three OOI Cabled Array Primary Nodes that were installed during Phase II of the node installation work. Nodes 3A and 3B were loaded onto the TE SubCom Dependable during the port call in Portland, Oregon. PN5A was already onboard. All nodes are positioned on the aft deck and were successfully tested. Because these three nodes were deployed in deep water and are not a hazard to fishing activities, they do not have trawl-resistant frames. The nodes are connected to 900 km of fiber optic cables on the seafloor and have been operational since 2014. Credit: B. Ittig. University of Washington.  

This photo taken from the bridge of the TE SubCom Dependable, shows the deployment of OOI RSN Primary Node 1D in the early hours of 1 August 2012. --Photo by Paul Hagstrom, Consortium for Ocean Leadership