Tag Archives: Ocean Networks Canada

‘Come with us’: Expedition explores new ocean floor developments at Juan de Fuca Ridge

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On Wednesday, June 6, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and Ocean Exploration Trust departed from Sydney, BC on their annual 21-day expedition, where the team could be the first to lay eyes on a newly formed ocean floor.

In early March a series of more than 200 earthquakes per hour, referred to as an earthquake swarm, was detected at a depth of five kilometers and roughly 240 kilometers offshore of Vancouver Island at the Juan de Fuca Ridge site. The earthquakes reached a magnitude of 4.1.

“The spike of earthquake activity at the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge could be a sign of an ‘impending magmatic rupture’,” reads a statement from ONC, quoting marine seismology PhD candidate Zoe Krauss. “A natural phenomena that can form new ocean floor.” 

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Deep-sea octopus nursery discovered in Nuu-chah-nulth waters

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Offshore of Vancouver Island, in Nuu-chah-nulth waters 65 kilometers west of Hesquiat Harbour, lives a nursery of deep-sea octopuses brooding their eggs. This is one of four known octopus nurseries in the world, said DFO researcher Cherisse Du Preez.

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Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans

Originally published by the Parliament of Canada

On 1 February 2022, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans (the Committee) agreed to undertake a study to “examine how the Department of Fisheries and Oceans prioritizes, resources and develops scientific studies and advice for the department, how the results of scientific study are communicated to the Minister and Canadians, and how the minister applies data and advice provided by the department and other government departments to ministerial decisions.”The Committee heard from 57 witnesses over nine meetings held between 26 April 2022 and 7 October 2022.

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Coastal carbon capture project aims to sink emissions in ocean floor and turn them to stone

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A team of scientists believes it has a “rock-solid” way to combat the climate crisis by sucking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it deep below the ocean floor. 

The proposed Solid Carbon project aims to scrub vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and inject it nearly three kilometres beneath the ocean’s surface into basalt aquifers where it will eventually transform into rock. 

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