Researchers at the University of Washington and at UC San Diego have been tapped by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop cyberinfrastructure to link the research institutions with offshore ocean observatories. The $3.9M award over four years calls for designing and connecting undersea sensor networks throughout the west coast of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Laboratory for the Ocean Observatory Knowledge Integration Grid (LOOKING) will be used to conduct research into remote and hostile environments. According to the researchers, the participating instutitions will tap into experimental wireless, optical networks, grid technology, web services, networking protocols, devices and sensors to create the network--eventually linking communities of oceanographers via high-speed wireless and optical connections.