Collaborative Research: General Purpose Tool for Acoustic Remote Sensing and Mapping of Hydrothermal Flow

提议--0136768 0136644本提议的目标是开发和制造专门用于研究海底热液流动的声学遥感和测绘工具。新系统将部署在各种遥控潜水器、深海拖曳平台和固定的海底观测网络上，用于研究和探测高温和低温热液流动状况。该传感器将采用两种新的声学方法，利用声闪烁热成像技术探测和定量测绘海底扩散的热液流动，并对海底上方的羽流颗粒分布和流动进行体积研究。在之前的三次实验中，这些方法已经使用安装在ROV Jason上的商业声纳系统进行了演示。拟议的传感器将改善商业系统的操作和技术限制，并利用各种平台进行长期规模的实验和更大规模的调查。此外，拟议的传感器将能够进行高质量的科学数据收集和分析，从而为热液流动的新声学方法和遥感应用提供一个灵活的试验台。该系统将与现有的和拟议的海底观测站兼容，能够通过互联网进行交互操作。这项提议是罗格斯大学各小组之间持续合作的产物(Rona等人)。和华盛顿大学应用物理实验室(APL-UW，Jones等人)这源于我们使用商用声纳进行热液观测的经验。拟议的仪器开发对于私人投资机构的目标至关重要，即在很长一段时间内观察集中和扩散的热液流动。设计、制造和本地测试将由APL-UW负责，而罗格斯集团将根据科学测量要求参与制定系统规格的过程，并将进行现场测试，包括测试数据的分析。新的遥感工具将能够在长时间尺度上测量羽流变化(数量级为1年)。这种尺度在研究热液流动对潮汐强迫以及火山和构造事件的响应方面很重要。该传感器将能够实施新的声学探测和测绘技术，以表征感兴趣的大区域(10平方公里)上的扩散流。据提议，该仪器还将能够研究热液系统的净热通量及其与地球物理、海洋和生物过程的关系。

Proposal - 0136768 0136644The goal of this proposal is to develop and fabricate an acoustic remote sensing and mapping tool dedicated to studying hydrothermal flow at the seafloor. The new system will be deployable on a variety of ROVs, deep towed platforms, and stationary seafloor observatory networks for the study and detection of high and low temperature hydrothermal flow regimes. The sensor will implement two new acoustic methods that will enable detection and quantitative mapping of diffuse hydrothermal flow at the seafloor using acoustic scintillation thermography (AST) and volumetric studies of plume particle distributions and flow above the seafloor. These methods have been demonstrated using a commercial sonar system mounted on the ROV Jason during three previous experiments. The proposed sensor will improve upon the operational and technical limitations of the commercial system and enable long time scale experiments and larger-scale surveys using a variety of platforms. In addition, the sensor proposed will enable high quality scientific data collection and analysis thus providing a flexible test bed for new acoustic methods and applications of remote sensing to hydrothermal flow. The system will be compatible with available and proposed seafloor observatories, enabling interactive operation via the Internet.This proposal is the product of an ongoing collaboration between groups at Rutgers (Rona et al.) and the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington (APL-UW, Jones et al.) and arises from our experience in using commercial sonars for hydrothermal observations. The proposed instrumentation development is central to the goal of the PIs to observe focused and diffuse hydrothermal flow over long time periods. Design, fabrication, and local testing will be the responsibility of APL-UW whereas, the Rutgers group will contribute to the process of developing system specifications from scientific measurement requirements and will conduct the field tests, including analysis of test data.The new remote sensing tool will enable measurements of plume flow variability at long time scales (of order 1 year). Such scales are important in studies on the response of hydrothermal flow regimes to tidal forcing as well as to volcanic and tectonic events. The sensor will enable the implementation of new acoustic detection and mapping techniques for characterizing diffuse flow over large regions (10s of km2) of interest. It is proposed that this instrument will also enable studies of net heat flux from hydrothermal systems and its relation to geophysical, oceanographic, and biological processes.