Neptune and Venus

Ocean Networks Canada has two main projects, called NEPTUNE and VENUS.

NEPTUNE: North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments

VENUS: Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea

NEPTUNE Canada is the largest regional cabled observatory in the world, which extends into the northeast Pacific Ocean, whereas VENUS monitors the coastal waters. Both NEPTUNE and VENUS provide ocean researchers around the world access to real time, recent and archived data.

The Ocean Networks Canada Observatory: NEPTUNE Canada Ocean Network and VENUS Coastal Network

Major research themes are:

• Plate tectonics, earthquakes, tsunamis 
• Deep sea ecosystems 
• Gas hydrates and crustal fluids 
• Climate change 
• Engineering and computational science

The extensions of the acronyms of NEPTUNE and VENUS are pretty self-explanatory.

But…

Is it just a coincidence that Neptune is actually the God of Seas in mythology?

At a young age, I was always fascinated with mythology due to the strong influence of my elementary school teacher. At first, I was a bit confused that Greeks and Romans had the very same gods for the same purposes, but with different names. Neptune is a Roman God of the Seas and Poseidon is the Greek God of the Seas. Venus is the Roman goddess of Beauty, and Aphrodite is the Greek Goddess of Beauty. I am more familiar with Poseidon and Aphrodite, since we have the archeological ruins of Aphrodite and Poseidon in Turkey.

On the other hand, I love Italy and Italian culture a lot! I travelled there many times extensively. I love the art in Italy, I mean art, but also food, language, wine, style, music… since to me, everything is blended with art in Italy. Because of my interest in mythology, the Italian painter Botticelli’s "The Birth of Venus" is one of my favorites. In my last visit to Italy, I bought a replica of it and brought it with me to Canada, which now hangs in the most visible spot in my room.

"The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli

Venus, as the Goddess of Beauty, was born in the sea and she represents femininity and gentility. Botticelli’s masterpiece depicts Venus arriving to the land on a seashell, while Neptune guides her in her journey.

God of the Seas, Neptune’s symbol is a trident and typically a shell is a good way to symbolize the goddess Venus.

Once again, Ocean Networks Canada has two projects, VENUS and NEPTUNE, and their logos are:

NEPTUNE and VENUS were always together in history in terms of mythology and art, but Ocean Networks Canada is the one and only organization that embraces them both in the scientific realm.

Goksenin Sen
Marine Educator