On this page:
- Why is it called VENUS?
- Where is VENUS?
- How deep are the VENUS systems?
- What is a Node?
- Why don’t the connectors short circuit under water?
- How many instruments can be connected to a Node?
- What is a SIIM?
- What is the Network Operations Centre?
- What is the shore station?
- What is the DMAS?
- What types of instruments are connected to the network?
- What is a CTD?
- What is an ADCP?
- What is a ZAP?
- What is the VIP?
- What is ROPOS?
- Why is the “Popup live data feed” opening in a new browser tab?
- I’m experiencing problems downloading data products.
- Where can I download the Cisco VPN Client?
Why is it called VENUS?
VENUS stands for Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea. This initiative was put forward by a group of marine and ocean scientists at the University of Victoria. The concept is an advancement of preliminary research facilities such as Martha’s Vineyard at WHOI and LEO15 at Rutgers that allow scientists to connect instruments to a submarine cable, provide continuous power and receiving continuous data. Marine scientists from Victoria and Vancouver met in 2001 and discussed various scientific objectives that might be addressed using a permanent cabled ocean observatory. From these meetings, the project of VENUS was born. VENUS is also a Goddess born of the Sea.
Where is VENUS?
The VENUS network consists of two main ocean cable arrays near Victoria and Vancouver, BC, Canada. One is in Saanich Inlet, west from the Institute of Ocean Sciences at the mouth of Patricia Bay. The second cable extends from the Iona Causeway near the Vancouver Airport into the southern portion of the Strait of Georgia. Both arrays are equipped with a variety of oceanographic sensors for measuring a variety of properties, including seawater temperature, salinity, dissolved gases, zooplankton distributions, ambient sound, currents, and tides.
How deep are the VENUS systems?
The node in Saanich Inlet is located at the 95m isobath, that’s over 310 feet below the surface. In the Strait of Georgia, there are two nodes, one at 300m in the central Strait, and the second at 175m towards the Fraser River Delta. At these depths, there is no light, and the pressures are very high (one atmosphere for every 10m of depth). Far too high for divers. In order to maintain the facilities, the project uses a remotely Operated Vehicle, called ROPOS, the Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences.
What is a Node?
The network consists of a large submarine cable which provides electrical power to the observatory systems, including the oceanographic instruments, and thin fibre optic threads for Ethernet communications. In order to distribute the power and communications, VENUS and OceanWorks have designed and built network hubs called Nodes, much like a USB hub attached to a computer, into which we can plug many oceanographic instruments.
Why don’t the connectors short circuit under water?
The instrument systems plug into the nodes using specialized under-water, wet-mateable connectors. They have advanced receptacles for the electrical pins that are hidden behind several water-tight, oil-filled o-rings. It takes about 85 lb of force to mate the 12 pin connectors on the side of the node. Once connected, 400 Volts DC and 100 BaseT communications are available for running instruments.
How many instruments can be connected to a Node?
The system is designed to be highly flexible in the total number of instruments that can be connected at any one time. However, the nodes physically have places for up to 8 wet-mateable connectors, or ports. Each port can in itself support many individual instruments. To optimally utilize the rather expensive wet mateable connectors, the project has designed special Science Instrument Interface Modules (SIIMs) to multiplex many instruments into one data stream.
What is a SIIM?
SIIM stands for a Science Instrument Interface Module, and is a large steel pressure case housing the necessary electronics to plug many instruments into one node port. SIIM ports can be configured to accommodate a variety of instrument communication protocols, including serial (RS-232/422/485), and Ethernet. The SIIM also allows the Network Operations Centre (NOC) to control and monitor power and communications to individual instruments. SIIMs can even be “daisy-chained” together to allow for additional instrument ports from the same node port.
What is the Network Operations Centre?
The entire network consists of shore stations, marine cables, nodes, SIIMs, and oceanographic instruments. All of these components are monitored and controlled at the Network Operations Centre at the University of Victoria, within the VENUS office. The NOC monitors system health (i.e. electrical power, electrical current, data transmission, temperature of electronics, etc.) from all sub-systems. It permits network operators to turn on and off specific node and SIIM ports, as well as the main power supply at the shore station.
What is the shore station?
Each submarine cable comes ashore and leads directly into a VENUS shore station. The shore station houses the necessary electronics and computers to manage the network power and communications, to and from the sub-sea components, the Network Operations Centre (NOC), and the Data Management and Archiving System (DMAS). The shore stations consist of small, secure trailers at the shore-landing sites. Here power is converted into the high voltage DC current necessary to power the network. The Ethernet communications to and from the arrays, and to and from DMAS are also managed by network servers and switches.
What is the DMAS?
DMAS stands for Data Management and Archiving System. It is the suite of systems that manage the acquisition and storage of all network data. Each oceanographic instrument receives specific commands that instruct it how to be configured and what data to collect. Instruments then send data back to the shore station, where they are buffered and transmitted to a database at the University of Victoria. Data are available in near real-time (within seconds) over the Internet using the project Web site at www.venus.uvic.ca. The DMAS archive will store the data for up to 20 years.
What types of instruments are connected to VENUS?
The network is designed to accept any type of oceanographic instrument rated to 300m pressure. Deployed at each node are some common instruments that measure some of the primary properties of the ocean. On the VENUS Instrument Platform (VIP), are mounted a CTD, an ADCP, and an inverted echo-sounder, or Zooplankton Acoustic Profiler (ZAP). A broadband ambient sound hydrophone array is also connected to each node. In Saanich Inlet, there is a user controlled pan & tilt digital camera, capable of video preview and high-resolution digital still images.
What is a CTD?
CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. In order to measure the salinity of seawater, it is necessary to measure the temperature, the electrical conductivity, and the in situ pressure (depth). These three sensors also allow us to calculate the actual seawater density at the instrument. The ocean is highly stratified, with dense water nearer the bottom, and lighter, less dense water near the surface. Fresher (less salty) water is lighter (less dense) than more salty seawater, while warmer water is lighter than cold water. The Fraser River discharges huge amounts of warm fresh water along the surface, while cold salty water flows in along the bottom through Juan de Fuca and Haro Straits.
What is an ADCP?
ADCP stands for Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler. It is an active sonar system for measuring ocean currents, much like the weather Doppler systems used to map atmospheric winds and rain. It consists of multiple acoustic transducers projecting upwards into the water column. It can measure the currents at many depths, thus providing a profile of the ocean currents.
What is a ZAP?
ZAP stands for Zooplankton Acoustic Profiler. It is an active sonar system, and is effectively an inverted echo-sounder, much like those used to find fish. The VENUS ZAPs use a high frequency acoustic pulse of 200 kHz. This is far above the audible range of all marine mammals. It resides near the bottom on the VENUS Instrument Platform (VIP), and records acoustic back-scatter from suspended particulate, plankton, and fish in the water column. By imaging consecutive echo-returns, an image of the back-scatter time series can be constructed.
What is the VIP?
VIP stands for the VENUS Instrument Platform. This simple structure has been designed to house a VENUS SIIM, for connecting multiple instruments to a node, with sufficient space to mount a variety of oceanographic sensors. It is also designed to land neatly on the ocean bottom, allow ROPOS easy access to the wet-mateable connector, and can easily be recovered by a snap hook attached by ROPOS to the central lifting ring.
What is ROPOS?
ROPOS stands for the Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences. It is an advanced remotely operated vehicle, maintained and operating by the Canadian Science Submersible Facility in Sidney, BC. Since most VENUS nodes and instruments are well beyond the depth reachable by divers, ROPOS is an essential tool for maintaining VENUS systems.
Why is the “Popup live data feed” opening in a new browser tab?
The “Popup live data feed” link should open the data feed in a new window that you can position as needed on your screen. If it is opening in a new tab, you need to update your settings in Internet Explorer.
1. In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
2. Click the General tab, and then, in the Tabs section, click Settings.
3. In the When a pop-up is encountered section, click Always open pop-ups in new tab.
4. Click OK twice.
I’m experiencing problems downloading data products.
After you search for data, a link is automatically generated to the data file you requested. Right-click on this link and select “Save Link As…” (Mozilla/Firefox) or “Save Target As…” (Internet Explorer). Also:
Internet Explorer: If Internet Explorer will not allow you to download the data product, check your setting for FTP: it should be set to “passive FTP”. To make this change in Internet Explorer go to the “Tools” menu and click on “Internet Options”. In the “Internet Options” window, click on the “Advanced” tab. Scroll down to find an option labeled “Use Passive FTP”, and check the box.
Opera: Opera users will be confronted with a 550 error.To ensure an FTP connection, you must have an FTP program installed on your system. If you don’t have an FTP program installed then download and install a client such as FileZilla. Go to “Tools”, then “Preferences”, then the “Advanced” tab, followed by “Programs” from the left menu. In the box “Choose helper applications for other protocols” click on “Add” then type “FTP” in the “Application” text box. Ensure that “Open with other application” is selected, then browse to the FTP program on your system.
Where can I download the Cisco VPN Client?
Download the Cisco VPN Client here:
