Failures on the Fraser Delta, British Columbia, have been attributed to a number of natural and human induced processes. Each of these processes occurs at a different time scale, from infrequent seismic events (earthquakes) to daily tidal processes. At least seven different hypotheses have been put forward over the past 40 years, yet despite several ship-based attempts no failures have been directly measured (rather they have been seen in repeat multibeam surveys). The Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea VENUS), a submarine cabled observatory, will provide power to the Fraser Delta, and will enable high bandwidth data to be collected and sent to shore in real time. Seismic piezometers will be deployed at various places in an array on the delta to cover both horizontal extent and depths on the delta slope from 30m to 150m This will give scientists, for the first time, a method to ensure that all of the processes of interest are measured at all time scales up to, during and after a failure takes place. The project is being executed by Natural Resources Canada under agreement with the University of Victoria, and as such the data will be made available freely to interested scientists and engineers. Furthermore, instrument ports will be made available on the network for researchers to connect their own specialized instruments for examining slope failures or other delta processes.
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