Glossary
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A
- ACM
- Acoustic Current Meter. ACMs use the Doppler effect to measure current velocities in the ocean environment.
- ACM documentation page.
- ACOA
- Atlantic Canada Opportunites Agency.
- ACORK
- Advanced Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit (see CORK).
- AD, ADC or A/D
- Analogue to Digital Converter.
- ADCP
- Acoustic Current Doppler Profiler. The ADCP 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.
- ADCP documentation page.
- ADM
- Analoge Digitale Meßsysteme, German instrument manufacturer.
- AGU
- American Geophysical Union.
- AML
- AML Oceanographic, Victoria, BC instrument manufacturer.
- Anode
- Ocean Networks Canada uses a telecom fibre optic cable. These cables have only one power conductor and are designed to use the sea water as the other conductor. The seawater conductor path in VENUS consists of a cathode at each node and an anode at each Shore Station. The anode connects the seawater conductor path to the power system in the Shore Station.
- APL-UW
- Applied Physics Lab - University of Washington.
- Aquadopp
- The Aquadopp Acoustic Current Meter (ACM) is a single-point current meter which produces 3 velocity measurements (North, East and Vertical) in m/s. ACM documentation page.
- Aquadopp Z-cell
- An Aquadopp with a zero cell (head height) velocity measurement (see Aquadopp).
- Array
- One completed cabled system from seafloor instruments to shore station. VENUS consists of two arrays.
- ASL
- ASL Environmental. Victoria, BC instrument manufacturer.
- AUV
- Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.
B
- Backscatter
- When sound encounters an obstacle, or travels through the stratified ocean, several things can happen. Upon reaching a suspended solid (plankton, fish, debris), some of the sound is scattered, either in the forward or oblique directions (diffraction) or back towards the source (backscatter).
- BARS
- Benthic and Resistivity Sensors. BARS instruments record measurements from hydrothermal vents. They have sensors to measure resistivity, temperature, eH (oxidizable nature of seawater components) and hydrogen. These instruments can estimate chloride concentration, temperature, and redox potential within a black smoker vent by recording a time series of fluid resistivity (M. Lilley, U of W). The region of active geothermal venting, measured by BARS sensors, shows extremely variable temperatures as hot hydrothermal fluid is cooled quickly by surrounding sea water.
BARS documentation page. - BCAVED
- BC Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development.
- BCKDF
- B.C. Knowledge Development Fund.
- Benthic
- A term referring to the region at the bottom of a body of water, including the uppermost layers of sediment.
- BMS
- Backhaul Management System.
- BoG
- Board of Governors.
- BPR
- Bottom Pressure Recorder. The Ocean Networks Canada BPRs, which are custom-designed by researchers at Natural Resources Canada's GSC Pacific facility in Sidney, BC, include sensors for pressure (at 1 Hz) and temperature. They can detect pressure changes of 100 ppb (equivalent to 0.4 mm of water). Data from these units help scientists better understand tsunami wave propagation and provide background information for establishing an early warning system to protect coastal communities.
C
- CANARIE
- Canada’s Advanced Research and Innovation Network.
- CANPAC divers
- CANPAC Divers Inc. Vancouver, BC commercial diver contractor.
- Cathode
- VENUS uses a telecom fibre optic cable. These cables have only one power conductor and are designed to use the sea water as the other conductor. The seawater conductor path in VENUS consists of a cathode at each node and an anode at each Shore Station. The cathode connects the seawater conductor path to the power system in the Node.
- CCGS
- Canadian Coast Guard Ship.
- CDOM
- Coloured Dissolved Organic Matter.
- CECR
- Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research.
- CFI
- Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
- CHARS
- Canadian High Arctic Research Station
- CIDA
- Canadian International Development Agency.
- CMOP
- Centre for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction.
- CODAR
- Coastal Radar. High Frequency Radar measures surface current. Ultimately, the VENUS CODAR system will employ two CODAR stations, one at IONA and one at the Westshore Terminals. When two stations are installed, VENUS will obtain and serve our users radial current vector data for the entire region between the two stations located 20 km apart.
- COL
- Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
- COOL
- Coastal Ocean Observation Lab, Rutgers University.
- CORIE
- Columbia River Estuary Observatory.
- CORK
- Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit, for instrumenting boreholes.
- COSEE
- Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence
- COTS
- Commercial Off The Shelf
- COVIS
- Cabled Observatory Vent Imaging Sonar. COVIS is a customized sonar system that provides a time-series of acoustically imaged and measured hydrothermal changes at Main Endeavour Field. COVIS images show plumes that rise from black smoker vents and lower-temperature diffuse flow discharging from the surrounding structures. Measurements include flow rate, volume flux of the plumes, and the area of diffuse flow. The COVIS project is a collaborative between Rutgers University and the Applied Physics Laboratory of University of Washington.
- COVIS documentation page.
- C/S
- Cable Ship.
- CSA
- Canadian Space Agency or;
- Canadian Standards Association
- CSEM
- Controlled-source Electro-magnetic experiment.The CSEM is a stationary imaging experiment that generates data sensitive to changes in these sediment properties. Using the NEPTUNE Regional Network, the CSEM provides continuous, real-time monitoring of the “Bullseye” cold vent offshore Vancouver Island.CSEM documentation page.
- CSnet
- CSnet International Corporation, USA off shore communications company.
- CSSF
- Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility, Sidney, BC ROV operator.
- CTB
- Cable Termination Box. In the CTB, the fibres in the cable are connected to the Shore Station network equipment and the power conductor in the cable is connected to the power feed equipment. The CTB provides access to the fibres and power conductors in the cable.
- CTD
- Conductivity, Temperature, Depth Instrument. A standard oceanographic instrument system which measures seawater conductivity (used in the calculation of salinity), temperature and pressure (used to determine depth).These three sensors also allows one to calculate the actual seawater density at the instrument.
- CTW
- Conductivity-Temperature with Wiper instrument. A CTW is a Temperature and Conductivity recorder with an integrated wiper which passes through the conductivity cell on a regular basis to prevent fouling.
D
- DAC
- Double Armoured Cable or;
- Digital to Analogue Converter or;
- DMAS Advisory Committee.
- DAF
- Data Acquisition Framework.
- Daisy Chain (Electrical Engineering)
- In electrical and electronic engineering a daisy chain is a wiring scheme in which multiple devices are wired together in sequence or in a ring.
- dbar
- Metric sub-unit of pressure. One dbar (decibar) is 0.1 bar, 10 kilopascals, or 1.45 pounds per square inch (psi). Pressure in the ocean is often expressed in units of decibars, abbreviated dbar. The sea pressure at the surface is 0 dbar. Depth in metres and pressure in dbar are roughly equivalent; for example, at 1 m depth pressure is approximately 1 dbar, and at 500 m approximately 500 dbar etc.
- Decadal
- Pertaining to ten; consisting of tens.
- DDL
- Delta Dynamics Laboratory. An array of instrument packages for studying slope stability and sediment dynamics. It includes a CTD to measure water properties, optical backscatter sensors to measure sediment transport at two different heights, single point current meters to measure currents at those same heights, upward looking ADCP to measure currents and sediment concentrations throughout the water column, ASL acoustic profiler to measure sediment concentrations and gas bubbles (as well as zooplankton and fish) throughout the water column, scanning sonars to measure bedforms, and a laser instrument for measuring suspended grain sizes and concentrations. The Delta Dynamics Laboratory is located in Eastern Strait of Georgia, at 10-40 meters depth.
- Depth
- The depth quoted for a location is the amount of water above a point during the mean lowest low tide (note: it is defined this way for the safety of mariners, who need to know how much water is under their keel).
- DFAIT
- Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
- Diffraction
- When sound encounters an obstacle, or travels through the stratified ocean, several things can happen. Upon reaching a suspended solid (plankton, fish, debris), some of the sound is scattered, either in the forward or oblique directions (diffraction) or back towards the source (backscatter).
- DMAS
- Data Management and Archiving System. DMAS collects, indexes and archives all data produced by the various in-sea instruments on the Ocean Networks Canada Observatories, and provides system users access to these data. DMAS also provides command and control of instruments to privileged users.
- DND
- Department of National Defence.
- DO, DO2
- Dissolved Oxygen.
- DONET
- Dense Oceanfloor Network system for Earthquakes and Tsunamis, a seafloor observatory off the coast of Japan.
- DPG
- Differential Pressure Gauge.
- DPG documentation page.
- DRDC
- Defence Research and Development Canada.
- D/V
- Drilling Vessel (e.g. D/V JOIDES Resolution).
E
- EOFS
- Environmental Observation & Forcasting System.
- EOI
- Expression of Interest.
- EM
- Electro-Magnetic or;
- Echosounder Multibeam, Kongsberg. Kongsberg echosounders can map bathymetry beyond the continental rises (up to 5000m depth) to shallow water basins (10 m depth). Since the maintenance cruise in July 2011, the R/V Thompson has been equipped with the Kongsberg EM 302 system.
- EMSO
- European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory.
- ENSO
- El Niño Southern Oscillation.
- EPIC
- EPIC stands for Engineering Procurement Installation Commissioning is typically a Lump Sum Turn Key type contract integrating the responsibility going from conception to the final acceptance of one or more elements of a production system. It can be awarded for all, or part, of a field development.
- ESFRI
- European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures.
- ESONET
- European Seas Observatory Network.
- EU
- European Union.
- Event
- “Event” refers to some condition of scientific interest either unexpected in the data stream or determined by condtions that exceed predetermined ranges.
- Extension Cable
- An extension cable provides power (typically 400 VDC) and communications (typically 100BaseT Ethernet) from observatory nodes to junction boxes on instrument platforms.
F
- FET
- Field Effect Transistor.
- FGDC
- Federal Geographic Data Committee.
G
- GB
- Gigabyte. SI unit denoting 109 or 1,000,000,000 bytes. Sometimes also refers to 230 or 1,073,741,824 bytes.
- GIS
- Geographic Information System. GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data.
- GT
- Georgia Transporter is a special purpose surface support craft for tending of submarines, ROVs, and for anchor handling.When outfitted with her specially designed submarine cable equipment, the Georgia Transporter becomes a sophisticated cable layer.
- GTD
- Gas Tension Device. The GTD measures the total dissolved air pressure. The total dissolved air pressure is the sum of the partial pressures of all dissolved gases in the water.
H
- HA
- Hydrophone Array. The HA is a directional three (or more) hydrophone system.
- HARS
- High Arctic Research Station.
- HD
- High Definition, a video format.
- HDPE
- High Density PolyEthylene is a type of polyethylene plastic made from petroleum.
- HF
- High Frequency.
- HOCR
- Hyperspectral Ocean Colour Radiometer. Radiometers collect measurements of optical properties in the ocean environment.
- Radiometer documentation page.
I
- IBM
- International Business Machines.
- IC
- Integrated Circuit (chip) or;
- Instrument Concepts, a hydrophone manufacturer in Truro, NS.
- ICD
- Interface Control Document.
- ICT
- Information and Communications Technology.
- IEEE
- Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers.
- iMaRS
- Institute for Marine Remote Sensing.
- INAC
- Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
- IODP
- Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.
- IOS
- Institute of Ocean Sciences. Located west of Sidney on Vancouver Island on a 70-acre site, the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) is one of Canada’s largest marine institutes. An important link in Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s nationwide chain of nine major scientific facilities, the institute is the centre for research on coastal waters of BC, the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, the western Canadian Arctic and navigable fresh waters east to the Alberta border.
- IP
- Instrument Platform.
- IPS
- The Ice Profiling Sonar is a an upward-looking sonar device, mounted on the ocean floor, which is used to accurately measure ice draft.
- IPS documentation page.
- ISE
- International Submarine Engineering Ltd.
- ISFET
- The Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor is an ion-sensitive field-effect transistor used for measuring ion concentrations in solution.
- ISO
- International Organization for Standards.
- Isobath
- A line on a map or chart that connects all points having the same depth below the surface of a body of water (sometimes called depth contour); also, having constant depth.
- IT
- Information Technology.
J
- JASCO
- JASCO Research is an underwater acoustics company in Halifax, NS and Victoria, BC.
- JOIDES
- Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (see the JOIDES Resolution, a drilling vessel).
L
- LAB
- Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics at the Technical University of Catalonia.
- LEF
- Leading Edge Fund, a fund from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) which supports leading-edge research or technology development activities.
- LEO
- Long-term Ecosystem Observatory, Rutgers University, NJ.
- LF
- Low Frequency.
- LIDO
- Listening to the Deep Ocean, a bioacoustic research project. The LIDO website was developed by researchers at Spain's Technical University of Catalonia and analyzes hydrophone data from many networks around the world. The LIDO research aims to understand organisms' responses to anthropogenic sound sources and informs on long-term management of noise pollution in the oceans.
- LW
- Light Weight Cable.
M
- MACHO
- Marine Cable Hosted Observatory, Taiwan.
- mab
- Metres above bottom.
- MarDep
- An Investigation into, and Modeling of, Environmental Problems and Observations of Submarine Earthquakes in the Marmara Sea.
- Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS)
- MARS is a cable-based observatory system similar to VENUS, which incorporates a benthic node and a variety of instrumentation. The MARS cable was installed in Monterey Bay, California in 2007.
- MBARI
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
- mbsf
- Metres below seafloor.
- Metadata
- Data which describes other data. Metadata can be a recursive concept where the metadata is further described by other metadata.
- MF
- Medium Frequency.
- MINK
- An underwater connector made by SeaCon used on the Ocean Networks Canada Observatories.
- MOU
- Memorandum of Understanding.
- MSI
- Major Science Initiative.
- MTC
- The University of Victoria's Marine Technology Centre.
- M/V
- Motor Vessel.
- MVC
- Medium Voltage Converter.
- MVCO
- Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory, WHOI.
N
- NaN
- Not a Number. Missing data or values that are indeterminate are assigned the place holder “NaN”, standing for “Not a Number.”
- NANOOS
- Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems. NANOOS is the Regional Association of the National Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) in the Pacific Northwest, primarily Washington and Oregon. NANOOS has strong ties with the observing programs in Alaska and British Columbia through our common purpose and the overlap of data and products.
- NEPTUNE
- The North-East Pacific Time-series Underwater Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE) Observatory consists of an approximately 800 km long cable running from the shore station at Port Alberni off the west coast of Vancouver Island across the Juan de Fuca plate. The cable carries power and communications to instruments, located on the seafloor and in the overlying water column, which relay their data in real-time to the shore station. The NEPTUNE Observatory is operated by Ocean Networks Canada.
- NEPTUNE Canada (NC)
- See NEPTUNE.
- NCE
- Networks of Centres of Excellence.
- NEMA
- National Electrical Manufacturers Association.
- NEMO
- Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean.
- NGK
- Nichiyu Giken Kogyo Co. Ltd.
- NMS
- Network Management System.
- NOAA
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- NOC
- Network Operations Centre. The NOC is the physical site where control of the overall cabled observatory system is located. The entire network consists of shore stations, marine cables, nodes, junction boxes and oceanographic instruments. All of these components are monitored and controlled at the Network Operations Centre at the University of Victoria. 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 junction box ports, as well as the main power supply at the shore station.
- Node
- An underwater structure that houses power and communications equipment and provides the physical connections between the fibre optic cable and the scientific instrument packages.
- Node Base
- The Node base is a steel structure on the seabed to which the fibre optic cable is secured, and into which the Node Pod rests.
- Node Pod
- The Node Pod is the assembly that houses the Node Can containing system electronics, and the wet-mate science connector bank.
- NRC
- National Research Council.
- NRCan
- Natural Resources Canada.
- NRC-HIA
- National Research Council Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. The National Research Council of Canada Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (NRC-HIA) manages Canada’s involvement in major astronomical observatories in Hawaii and Chile, thereby ensuring Canadian astronomers full access to world-class facilities spanning the entire sky.
- NSERC
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
- NSF
- National Science Foundation.
- NTP
- Network Time Protocol. NTP permits clock synchronization over networks.
O
- ODC
- Ocean Discovery Centre or;
- Organizational Domain Controller.
- ODI
- Ocean Design Inc. (Teledyne), in Daytona Beach, Florida.
- ODP
- Ocean Drilling Platform.
- O&M
- Operations and Maintenance.
- ONC
- Ocean Networks Canada manages and operates world-leading ocean observatories for the advancement of science and for the benefit of Canada. It does so on the behalf of the University of Victoria, the lead institution for a national consortium of universities and partner organizations. ONC several observatories, including the VENUS coastal observatory and the NEPTUNE observatory, in addition to a federal centre of excellence for commercialization and research, the ONC Innovation Centre.
- ONCCEE
- ONC Centre for Enterprise & Engagement (now renamed the ONC Innovation Centre). ONCCEE is a Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) funded by the Canadian Government in 2009 under the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program. ONCCEE has a mandate to generate socio-economic benefits from Canada’s significant investments in Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and its two observatories, VENUS and NEPTUNE, through a series of programs focused on ocean science, technology and education.
- OOI
- Ocean Observatories Initiative.
- OTTB
- Ocean Technology Test Bed. This project is part of an ongoing initiative at the University of Victoria to advance marine technology. The ocean technology test bed (OTTB) is an engineering laboratory, located on the seafloor in Saanich Inlet. It will enable scientific instrument prototyping, ocean technology development and systems engineering. More specifically, it will facilitate research into the technologies required to extend the reach of cabled ocean observatories using underwater vehicles, autonomous instrumentation, and acoustic networks.
P
- PAR
- Photosynthetically Active Radiation.
- pCO2
- Partial pressure of CO2.
- PFE
- Power Feed Equipment. Equipment used to supply power to submarine fibre-optic cables.
- PGC
- Pacific Geoscience Centre in North Saanich, BC.
- PI
- Principal Investigator.
- PLUTO
- Panama LJL Underwater Tropical Observatory. PLUTO is part of Liquid Jungle Lab.
- pN2
- Partial pressure of N2.
- POGO
- Profiling OceanoGraphic Observatory (See VPS). POGO is a mobile instrument platform. It consists of a seafloor base unit and a tethered float. A winch on the base unit raises and lowers the float, hosting instrumentation for monitoring salinity, temperature, dissolved gasses and nutrients, currents, plankton and fish concentrations, and marine mammal movements.
- pO2
- Partial pressure of O2.
- psu
- Practical Salinity Unit. Unit used to describe the concentration of dissolved salts in water. The UNESCO Practical Salinity Scale of 1978, PSS78, defines salinity in terms of a conductivity ratio, so is dimensionless. Therefore practical salinity is correctly written without units, although often you will see the numeric value followed by psu which stands for “practical salinity unit”.
- PTP
- Precision Time Protocol. PTP permits clock synchronization over networks.
- PTZ
- Pan Tilt Zoom. Pan & tilt mechanisms allow remote operators to control camera movements at the seafloor.
- Pan Tilt Mechanisms documentation page.
- PU
- Public user.
- PUNC
- Programmable Underwater Connector with Knowledge, instrument protocol.
Q
- QINIQ
- Means "to search". The Qiniq network is an advanced satellite and wireless network, delivering Broadband Internet services to all communities in Nunavut, Canada. The network spans 25 communities, servicing a total population of approximately 29,000 people across 2 million square kilometers.
R
- RAID
- Redundant Array of Independent Disks.
- RAS
- Remote-Access water Sampler. The RAS is a deep water or coastal time-series water sampler that collects samples for biological, dissolved major and minor nutrient, dissolved trace metal, or dissolved organic carbon analyses.
- RBR
- RBR is an instrument manufacturer in Ottawa, ON.
- RCM
- Regional Circulation Mooring.
- RCM documentation page.
- RDI
- Refers to Teledyne RD Instruments, previously RD Instruments, in San Diego, California. Specializes in the design and manufacture of underwater acoustic Doppler products for a wide array of current profiling and precision navigation applications.
- RFP
- Request for Proposal.
- RFQ
- Request for Quotation (Quote).
- RNS
- Regional Networked System.
- ROCLS
- Remotely Operated Cable Laying System (operated by ROPOS). ROCLS latches beneath ROPOS for deployment of extension cables for seafloor observatories. This unique system utilizes the ROPOS ROV with a specially designed cable laying spool and operating system that allows for the deployment of smaller diameter cables that cannot be laid in deep water by a cable ship.
- ROM
- Rough order of magnitude.
- ROPOS
- ROPOS stands for the Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences. It is an advanced remotely operated vehicle (ROV), maintained and operating by the Canadian Science Submersible Facility in Sidney, BC.
- RO-RO
- Roll On, Roll Off.
- ROV
- Remotely Operated Vehicle. Used to deploy, retrieve, and maintain instruments on a deep-sea cabled observatory.
- RTI
- Research Theme Integrator.
- R/V
- Research Vessel.
- Rx
- Receiver.
S
- SAC
- Scientific Advisory Committee.
- SATURN
- Science And Technology University Research Network.
- SBDA
- Science-Based Departments and Agencies.
- SBE
- Sea-Bird Electronics.
- Science Oversight Committee
- Membership constituted from the user community; mandate to advise VENUS Operations on Facility configuration in response to user needs and to resolve conflicts among user requests.
- Scientific Instrument Package
- One or more scientific instruments which are connected to a science connector on the Node.
- SFC
- Sea Floor Compliance package.
- Sea Floor Compliance package documentation page.
- SFOC
- Submarine Fibre optic Cable.
- SFP
- Small Form-factor Pluggable port.
- Shore Station
- The site at or near the cable landings of the individual instrument arrays. This site is responsible for providing power to the array and acts as a command and data interface.
- SI
- Saanich Inlet is one of the best-studied marine basins in the world, and home to one of ONC's Salish Sea Observatories.
- SIIM (Scientific Instrument Interface Module)
- The SIIM is the standard VENUS hardware for instrument multiplexing. The SIIM has 4 serial and 2 Ethernet ports. All ports provide 24 Vdc for instrument power, and in addition, one Ethernet port has 400 Vdc to allow SIIMs to be daisy-chained.
- SLIP
- Seismic Liquefaction In-situ Penetrometer.The SLIP is designed to monitor and help predict sub-sea slope failures in coastal environments that can trigger tsunamis.
- SME
- Small to Medium sized Enterprises or;
- Subject Matter Expert
- SNMP
- Simple Network Management Protocol.
- SoG
- The Strait of Georgia is a deep, inland basin located between Vancouver Island to the west and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to the east, including the City of Vancouver. The Strait of Georgia branch of Ocean Networks Canada's VENUS Observatory resides in the southern portion of the Strait. This deep basin is nearly 200 km long and 40 km wide, and has maximum water depths of more than 400 m in the central/northern region. A dominant and influencing feature of the Strait is the mouth of the Fraser River, which experiences peak flows in May and June as the seasonal snow pack from the coastal mountains of southern British Columbia drains into the Strait of Georgia.
- SOSC
- Smart Ocean Sensor Consortium. The Smart Ocean Sensor Consortium (SOSC) is a group of manufacturers and users dedicated to improving the reliability, utility and cost-effectiveness of hydrographic sensor networks through the adoption, development, and promotion of appropriate standard interfaces and protocols. In particular, the SOSC supports the new Open Geospatial Consortium PUCK Protocol standard.
- SONET
- Synchronous Optical Network transponder.
- SPAWAR
- Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.
- SUNA
- Submersible Ultraviolet Nitrate Analyzer.
- SPC
- Science Planning Committee.
T
- TB
- Terabyte. SI unit denoting 1012 or 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Sometimes also refers to 240 bytes.
- TBD
- To Be Determined.
- TDF
- Technology Demonstration Facility.
- TDP
- Technology Demonstration Project.
- TEF
- Technology Enterprise Facility, the building which houses the Ocean Networks Canada offices at the University of Victoria.
- TI
- Texas Instruments.
- TWERC
- Tsunami Warning and Early Response system for Cyprus.
- TRF
- Trawl-Resistant Frame.
- Tx
- Transmitter.
U
- UIF
- User Interaction Features.
- UJC
- Universal Joint Connector.
- UNCLOS
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- Universal Time (Coordinated Universal Time – UTC)
- A high precision atomic clock time standard that replaces the historic Greenwich Mean Time. It is 7 hours ahead of British Columbia local time during Pacific Daylight Saving Time (PDT), and 8 hours ahead during periods of Pacific Standard Time (PST).
- UPC
- Technical University of Catalonia.
- UPS
- Uninteruptible Power Supply.
- UUID
- Universal Unique ID.
- UVic
- University of Victoria located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
V
- Vector ADV
- The Vector Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter, also known as “Vector” is a field instrument designed for measurements of rapid small scale changes in 3D velocity, used for turbulence, boundary layer measurements, surf zone measurements, and measurements in very low flow areas.
- VENUS
- Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) Observatory in the Salish Sea is comprised of installations in Saanich Inlet and Stait of Georgia. Instruments range in depth from near-surface to 300 m. The VENUS Observatory is operated by Ocean Networks Canada.
- VIP
- VENUS Instument Platform. A VIP is a bottom mounted platform designed to accommodate a SIIM and a number of instruments.
- VHF
- Very High Frequency.
- VPN
- Virtual Private Network.
- VPN Client
- Direct interaction with scientific instrument packages (e.g. controlling the digital camera) is accomplished using Virtual Private Network (VPN). Access to authorized users is provided through a VPN Client.
- VPS
- The Vertical Profiler System (see POGO) is a mobile instrument platform. It consists of a seafloor base unit and a tethered float. A winch on the base unit raises and lowers the float, houses instrumentation for monitoring salinity, temperature, dissolved gasses and nutrients, currents, plankton and fish concentrations, and marine mammal movements.
W
- WARN
- WARN stands for Web-enabled Awareness Response Network. Its goal is to provide very fast event detection of earthquakes and tsunamis to support BC’s coastal emergency preparedness authorities and decision-makers—especially in southern urban areas. It is funded by CANARIE, provider of high-speed Internet to Canada’s universities and major research facilities.
- WCVI
- West Coast of Vancouver Island.
- WED
- Western Economic Diversification.
- WHOI
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
- WMC
- Wet Mate Connector.
- WQM
- WetLabs Water Quality Monitoring package.
- WetLabs Water Quality Monitoring package documentation page.
Z
- ZAP
- Zooplankton Acoustic Profiler. The ZAP echosounder monitors the presence and location of zooplankton within the water column by measuring acoustic backscatter returns with ultrasonic frequencies (200 kHz). Other sonar targets realizable from the sonar backscatter data include fish and sediments.