Some data requests from the VENUS Download Data page are generating errors. The DMAS Systems team is currently investigating the issue. Thank you for your patience while we try and fix the problem.
Studying marine mammals vocalizations in the ocean has been an ongoing project on VENUS. A number of hydrophones have been installed and tested on the VENUS network, both in Saanich Inlet and the Strait of Georgia. As identified by the research community, the main area of interest in this research is the Strait of Georgia. A busy marine traffic lane, home to the resident Killer Whales, the Strait also provides a hunting ground for transient Killer Whales.
Today we wanted to feature sounds captured on the deepest (300m) Central Node hydrophone system in the Strait of Georgia. The hydrophone system connected to the Central Node of VENUS network in the Strait of Georgia has been collecting acoustical data since 2008. Check out the new clips featured in our whale sounds page.
DMAS continues to have issues with their file archiving system. Files were not archived on April 20 2012 and all processes are very slow . Thank you for your patience while we resolve the issue.
Update Monday April 23 2012: All data have been archived and processes are functioning as expected now.
On February 15 & 16, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans held the annual meeting to assess the State of the Ocean for 2011. We recently submitted our fourth contribution to this important and broad-reaching document. Included in this report are the three CTD time series from our three Node locations, Saanich Inlet, and Strait of Georgia Central and East, available from our State of the Ocean page. The Saanich Inlet time series is now over 6 years long, and reveals weekly, monthly, annual and inter-annual variations. Of key note for 2011 was the relatively mild spring and slightly cooler summer, which resulted in a prolonged melting of the large coastal snow pack and a prolonged Fraser River freshet, and the capturing of May and June dense water in-flows at the SoG Central site.
Studying biorhythms in Saanich Inlet is an ongoing research project supported by the VENUS network. Following the initial deployment and analysis of results, published in Sensors (Aguzzi et al. 2011), the group of international collaborators is now using a seafloor camera (DISCo) that features a more developed control interface. The interface can automate the process of turning the lights on and taking imagery. The camera schedule is set to take 4 images every 30 min 24/7 which allows researchers to observe and assess changes in the environment as they occur.
DMAS continues to have issues with their archiving proceses. Files are currently being archived and ADCP, ZAP and Nortek Vector plots will be updated as data are available. Thank you for your patience.
Between Apr. 05, 2012 17:52:13 UTC and 18:17:30 UTC the VENUS hydrophone array at our Strait of Georgia Central site (300m depth) picked up whale sounds identified as transient Killer Whales (mammal hunters). Some representative examples (30 seconds in length) from Hydrophone #1 (HighTech) of the array are shown below.
Hydrophone data from both SoG East (170m) and SoG Central (300m) are lagging behind. DMAS continues to have issues with their archiving processes – they are working hard to resolve them. It may take a few days for the hydrophone files to catch up. Thank you for your patience.
Our ADCP, ZAP and Nortek Vector data plots have not updated because there is a problem with the DMAS (Data Management and Archiving System) File Archiving process. They are working on it and hopefully, all our plots will be up to date tomorrow.
VENUS XWing camera captured Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) preying on a spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros) at the forensic research site in the Strait of Georgia. The short video shows how the prawn manages to escape the mighty predator.
