Canada’s national ocean observatory critical for ocean, planet

A Nanometrics 'Titan' accelerometer is carefully deployed along the Cascadia subduction zone, as part of a network of seismic sensors that ONC has installed underwater and on land. The network contributes to British Columbia's earthquake early warning system, and is part of ONC's extensive underwater observing infrastructure. Credit: Ocean Networks Canada/ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), an initiative of the University of Victoria, today welcomes a new federal investment in its world-leading ocean observatories located on the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts of Canada. The support will help drive climate change solutions, safer coastal communities, Indigenous ocean data stewardship, a healthier ocean and a sustainable blue economy. The funding announced today is awarded to UVic through the Canada Foundation for Innovation's (CFI) Major Science Initiatives Fund , which supports a portion of the operating and maintenance costs of selected national science facilities across Canada. ONC will receive an investment of almost $115 million over six years to continue advancing ocean observing, extending the reach and application of its open access big data to benefit science, society and industry. In the past 16 years ONC has expanded beyond its early work observing the Salish Sea to becoming a true national ocean observing facility, with installations and local and Indigenous partnerships on all three coasts of Canada, attracting more than 23,000 users of its scientific data around the world.