Ocean Observatory: The missing cable has been found

LoVe is an infrastructure for research and monitoring of the ocean. Several platforms, or nodes, are located out in the sea, connected by a cable from land.

But the system has been without power and down for several months, after something or someone pulled the four kilometres long cable in the outer circuit.

Large parts of the cable have now been found, a good distance away from where it was originally located.

"We are pleased that the cable is located. It is important to clarify what has happened and what we must do next. We will follow up the case with the police" says research director Geir Huse.

Successful search operation

On Wednesday this week, the research vessel G.O. Sars went on a maintenance cruise.

The aim was to examine the inner circuit, which is assumed not to be damaged, so a part of the system can work again.

But the weather meant that not all the planned work could be done. Thus, there was free time to also look for the cable, and after a few hours it was located.

"We have found about 3 kilometres of the 4.2-kilometre-long cable. It is quite far out of position, up to 11 kilometres. Most likely a vessel has pulled the cable out of position", says project manager and HI researcher Geir Pedersen.

– We will now consider if it is possible to reuse some of the equipment.