Major advances in cabled ocean observatories (VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada) in coastal and deep sea settings

VENUS (Victoria Experimental Network Under The Sea) is an advanced multi-node cabled ocean observatory now operational in the coastal ocean and NEPTUNE Canada (North-East Pacific Undersea Networked Experiments) is deploying into the deep ocean with on an 800 km loop with high power delivery. The abundant power, high bandwidth communications and hundreds of sensors delivering data in real or near real time will offer a new approach to acquisition of knowledge and interpretation of the ocean environment. Coupled with a powerful data repository and delivery system, ocean researchers have a powerful tool to explore ocean conditions. The development of cabled observatory technology is crucial given the current crises facing the ocean environment.