The node shell is made of stainless steel, painted to prevent it from becoming fouled with undersea growth. It is anchored to the seafloor and strongly braced against the tremendous wave induced surge forces which occur on this open coastal shelf during seasonal storms. Both nodes survived hurricanes Eduarde and Fran which hit shortly after the nodes were deployed in the late summer of 1996. Inside each node, the seafloor cable is terminated in an oil-filled cable junction box. The inshore node passes the cable through its junction box and on to the offshore node.
Extra cable is coiled on the floor inside the node shell.
This extra cable permits the termination box to be lifted to the surface for repair, servicing, and installation. The instrument frame is buoyant so that it may be disconnected from the node shell and raised to the surface by divers using a hand operated winch mounted on the node shell. Once on the surface, it can be lifted aboard a small 50 ft. boat and brought to shore for repair, servicing or upgrade. The instrument frame contains a fiber-optic telemetry system and microprocessors which switch power and signal channels to the various undersea connectors at each nodes. Electronics in the instrument frame are used to monitor the health of the node as well as the experiments and robots which are hooked to it.