All wired up

摘要

The ocean floor is being covered with remote-controlled observatories, letting oceanographers keep tabs on the sea without getting wet. Jon Copley investigates. The ocean floor is an exciting place to visit, but you might not want to live there. Fortunately, those who want to keep an eye on what goes on beneath the waves now have an alternative. Instead of trying to colonize the sea floor, marine scientists are planning networks of unstaffed seafloor observatories across the globe. Connected by fibre-optic cables or linked to satellite buoys, this wet-world-web will let oceanographers make long-term measurements and run experiments in the depths without leaving their desks.