NEWS RELEASE

Antarctica has today become home to a new subsea observatory providing near real-time ocean data, year-round, thanks to a [new partnership](https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2024+onc-antarctic+media-release) between Canada and Spain scientists.

Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) has expanded its ocean monitoring infrastructure in the Southern Ocean with the deployment of two deep-sea Argo floats this month which are now transmitting open access ocean data. The scientific instruments were released on February 3, 2024 (GMT) by ONC's partner, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), into Drake Passage, the body of water between the southernmost point of South America and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica (*61 48.27255' S, 64 00.78831' W and 61 48.32472' S, 64 00.788836' W*).

Staff with the 37th Spanish Antarctic Campaign have been hard at work preparing the Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) Antarctic Ocean subsea observatory for the impending harsh polar winter in the southern hemisphere. The observatory - which is a partnership between ONC and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) - has been successfully transmitting ocean data since its [January 2024 deployment](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/data-now-flowing-from-new-antarctic-ocean-observatory/), 25 metres below the surface, in a bay near the Spanish Antarctic Station ([BAE](http://www.utm.csic.es/es/instalaciones/jci)), Juan Carlos I, located on Livingston Island. The research station is staffed during the warmer summer months but inaccessible during the polar winter, so staff have been prepping the observatory to (hopefully) withstand the dramatic seasonal changes ahead. At the height of winter, approximately 15 million square kilometres of sea ice can form at the surface of the Antarctic Ocean (aka the Southern Ocean), that will move with the currents and winds, and collide with each other and the coastline. Watch this video showing how CSIC has armoured and secured the observatory cables to the shore to minimize potential damage by sea ice impact and rough tides.

*Update (March 31, 2025). The new observatory’s Iridium shore system and controller are powered and transmitting, but ONC is investigating issues with the CTD and interruptions in data flow from the instrument. Investigations are being conducted remotely, as the station is now closed for the winter.* Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and its European partner have successfully deployed a new replacement subsea cabled observatory in Antarctica, significantly improving its capacity to deliver high quality data on near real-time environmental changes to the Southern Ocean. The ongoing partnership between ONC, a University of Victoria initiative, and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) continues to advance our scientific understanding of one of the least observed parts of the planet, the Southern Ocean, or the Antarctic Ocean. Oceanographic data from the partner observatory located offshore at Juan Carlos I Spanish Antarctic Station [is freely available on ONC’s data management portal, Oceans 3.0](https://data.oceannetworks.ca/PlottingUtility?refLink=MTE0NjcwfDEyNDQxNEQ). # Improving our reliability The CSIC team [deployed the first ONC partnership observatory in early January 2024](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/data-now-flowing-from-new-antarctic-ocean-observatory/), marking a major milestone in polar scientific collaboration. Throughout last year, ONC engineers, in conjunction with feedback from the Spanish team, developed a new made-in-Canada solution for remote ocean monitoring in the polar region that further enhances our data collection efforts. "The continuation of the CSIC's partnership with Ocean Networks Canada with the installation of a new observatory, that improves the reliability of the one installed in the previous campaign, will further boost the scientific interest and capacity of the research community that carries out its studies in the area of ​​the BAE Juan Carlos I,” says Jordi Sorribas Cervantes, director of the Unit of Marine Technology at CSIC. > “Researchers have seen in this infrastructure the ideal framework to contextualize a large part of their work with continuous environmental measurements. It is awakening a lot of interest in expanding its capabilities with more sensors and devices associated with it." - *Jordi Sorribas Cervantes, director of the Unit of Marine Technology of the CSIC*. The Juan Carlos I Antarctic Station is located on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands Archipelago, north of the Antarctic Peninsula. The 38th Spanish Research Campaign has been there since December 2024 completing various objectives, including prepping the observatory for its deployment. Installation of the observatory was carried out by CSIC this week.