The OOIFB is pleased to announce its Town Hall event at the December 2026 American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco, CA:
Emerging Technologies in Seafloor Sensing: Future Science Opportunities and the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Experience (TH45E)
When: Thursday, December 10, 2026, 6:00-7:00 pm PT
Where: 2004 – West (Moscone Center)
The OOI Facility Board (OOIFB, https://ooifb.org), tasked with representing and engaging the science community and OOI users, will host a Town Hall featuring an interactive panel discussion to highlight cabled observatory innovations and explore exciting, new approaches in seafloor sensing. These include fiber optic advancements in conventional and multi-span distributed acoustic sensing (DAS); high-power, real-time, transmission of terabytes of data; alternative configurations in satellite/acoustic seafloor surveys; advanced geohazard sensing; and high-resolution monitoring of geological processes. Scientists and engineers associated with these advancements, including those working with DAS and/or SMART cables, and representatives from the OOI Regional Cabled Array (RCA) and the Cascadia Offshore Subduction Zone Observatory (COSZO), will be available for this community-centered discussion.
Community Discussion Moderator: Dax Soule, OOIFB Chair, Queens College (CUNY)
Panelists will include:
- Deborah Kelley, OOI Regional Cabled Array (RCA)
- Mikael Mazur, Nokia Bell Labs
- Demian Saffer, University of Texas at Austin
- Dana Manalang, University of Washington
The OOIFB invites researchers and educators across all disciplines to attend this event, engage in discussion, and learn more about developments and future opportunities with cabled array observatories. Interested individuals are encouraged to RSVP for the Town Hall in advance. There is an opportunity in the online RSVP to ask questions of our panelists in advance; we will keep track of questions asked and try to integrate as many of these topics into the Town Hall as possible.