An underwater observatory off the coast of the Pacific Northwest would be the first of its kind spanning a tectonic plate on the ocean floor.

The University of Washington announced a $2.2 million contract from the joint Oceanographic Institutions for planning to begin on the research facility.

It would straddle the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. The facility would allow scientists to study seafloor earthquakes and Tsunamis. Scientists said information from the marine life in the extreme underwater volcanoes could help lead to new medicines.

University of Washington

Researchers also hoped that studies could improve weather forecasting and fish habitat management.

Other instruments would connect scientists with underwater robot vehicles to land-based computers and labs, scientists said.

“Rather than relying on limited expeditions from ships to gather data, observatories in the ocean will allow us to access data from our labs and desktops. Through the OOI, real- time data will be made available to scientists, citizens, teachers, and schoolchildren across the country,” JOI President Steve Bohlen said.

The underwater facilities will have four sites, connected by more than 850 miles of cable, carrying power and communications lines from shore.

"This new ocean observatory capability will provide novel and enduring ways to study the oceans. These new approaches are going to revolutionize not only how we humans look at oceans and the earth, but eventually -- in the time of our children's children -- the way we manage our entire planet," Professor John Delaney, with the School of Oceanography at University of Washington, Seattle, said.

More: Information from UW

A final award for the study was due in August.