Development of a Power System for Cabled Ocean Observatories

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

0116750 Howe This award to University of Washington will provide support for the design and prototype of a 100 kW parallel DC power system for cabled, undersea observatories for oceanographic research. The design is intended to support a "plate-scale" system such as the NEPTUNE network of remote, interactive natural laboratories that is being planned for the seafloor region called the Juan de Fuca Plate, offshore of the Pacific Northwest. NEPTUNE is being designed to include thirty or more discrete observatory nodes, each capable of hosting multiple observing systems, along a system involving 3000 kilometers or more of fiber optic cable for power and communications. The power system addressed here will be designed in parallel with communications systems presently under development at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with coordination provided by the NEPTUNE System Engineering Team. Wet testing is anticipated to take place in two submarine installations, one in California and one in Canada, in Spring 2004. ***