The Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) is a component of the National Science Foundations (NSFs) Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The NSF's OOI is managed and coordinated by the OOI Project Office at the [http://www.oceanleadership.org Consortium for Ocean Leadership] (COL) in Washington, D.C.  The UW, located in Seattle, Washington, is the RSN Implementing Organization for the COL.
The [http://www.interactiveoceans.washington.edu/story/Mission_and_Vision vision] behind RSN is to launch a new era of scientific discovery and understanding of the oceans.
The RSN consists of two infrastructures: primary and secondary.  The primary infrastructure network, which was designed, qualified, manufactured, and installed in 2012 by [http://www.l-3mps.com/maripro/index.aspx L-3 Maripro], consists of a shore facility located in Pacific City, Oregon; two fiber-optic cable lines covering a distance of 800 kilometers, and seven primary science nodes.
The RSN system delivers 200 kilowatts of power and 240Gbit/s of TCP/IP Internet data communications to the seven primary science nodes.  RSN is designed to last for 25 years and is capable of significant expansion to serve future science needs.