University of Hawaii scientists are hoping a new observatory installed on the ocean floor about 60 miles north of Oahu shines new light on the darkness of the deep sea.

The School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at UH Mānoa and the National Science Foundations are funding the ALOHA Cabled Observatory (ACO), which was installed on June 6. 
 
The observatory is located three miles below the water's surface and connected to Oahu by a telecommunications cable from Makaha to Station ALOHA, located 60 nautical miles north of Oʻahu. The ACO will give scientists the ability to make sustained real-time observations.
 
Roger Lukas, Oceanography Professor in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, noted in an article on the UH website, “After 18 days of hard work at sea, and months of preparations, the ship’s crew and science groups were elated with our success in establishing the world’s deepest cabled ocean observatory.” 
 
The ACO is now extending electric power and the Internet over a retired seafloor telecommunications cable. Sensors that are connected to the ACO will provide live video of the surrounding three-mile-deep seafloor. The video will be used to measure currents and temperature, as well as indicate when tsunami waves or surface wind waves are passing through the upper ocean.
 
According to scientists, the deep ocean is under-observed and the ACO will not only be able to measure currents, pressures, temperatures and salinity, but there are spare slots in the device that will be available to plug in additional sensors and science experiments. Sustained and continuous recordings of deep ocean conditions will enable better understanding of ocean acoustics, circulation, chemistry and ecosystem behaviors, which will make the ACO a long-term recorder. 
 
For more information, visit: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/ALOHA/ACO.html or the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s website at http://www.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=4586 for the full article on the ACO.