Collaborative Research: Acoustic Instrumentation for Imaging and Quantifying Hydrothermal Flow in NEPTUNE Canada Regional Cabled Observatory at Main Endeavour Field, JdFR

作为海洋观测站倡议(OOI)的一部分，国际海洋研究所请求提供资金，用于开发和连接声纳仪器，以监测不列颠哥伦比亚省近海Juan de Fuca Ridge(JdFR)海王星加拿大区域有线观测站(RCO)的主要奋进领域(MEF)的热液流动。该RCO的主干电缆已于2007年安装，节点和接线盒计划于2009年安装。拟议的仪器将对从喷口排放的浮力羽流的变化的三维几何形状、流量和体积通量以及周围海底扩散流的区域分布的时间序列进行声学成像。与加拿大海王星的连接将提供电力和带宽，将我们目前经过技术验证的成像能力从几天/几周(ROV或电池电力)扩展到几个月/几年。这一时间延长将能够监测热液流动的流量，并检测从潮汐周期到地质事件(地震、火山活动)与外部强迫过程的联系。拟议的新仪器，即有线天文台成像声纳系统(CoVIS)，是为满足有线天文台提供的功率和数据带宽而设计的理想仪器，将适应海王星加拿大第一阶段的机械、电气和软件功能要求。一个最先进的商用现成声纳(400千赫)将被获取并集成到一个定制的海底三脚架着陆器上，该着陆器带有中央塔架和角度平移系统。三轴角度平移系统将允许操作员将多波束声纳头部精确定位到羽流和扩散流测量的观测位置，将能够适应流动方向的变化，将能够通过岸基控制软件自主响应由其他海王星加拿大仪器探测到的重大地球物理事件，并将有在喷口区域内移动的范围。更广泛的影响：这项工作应能提供一个实时窗口，了解海底热液流动及其与海洋和地质过程的相互作用。这一装置可以通过大学教育/灵感对普通公众和K-12产生巨大的公众意识和教育影响，这是显而易见的，应该鼓励。对于工程专业的研究生来说，论文也可能会有一些好处。

The PI's request funding to develop and connect sonar instrumentation to monitor hydrothermal flow at the NEPTUNE Canada Regional Cabled Observatory (RCO) in the Main Endeavour Field (MEF) on the Juan de Fuca Ridge (JdFR) offshore British Columbia as part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The backbone cable for this RCO was installed in 2007 and the nodes and junction boxes are scheduled for installation in 2009. The proposed instrumentation will acoustically image time series of the changing 3D geometry, flow rate and volume flux of buoyant plumes discharging from vents and areal distribution of diffuse flow from the surrounding seafloor. Connection to NEPTUNE Canada will provide the power and bandwidth to extend our present technically proven capability of imaging from days/weeks (ROV or battery power) to months/years. This temporal extension will enable monitoring of fluxes of hydrothermal flow and detecting linkages with external forcing processes from tidal cycles to geologic events (earthquakes, volcanic activity). The proposed new instrumentation, the Cabled Observatory Imaging Sonar System (COVIS), is designed as an ideal instrument for the power and data bandwidth afforded by the cabled observatory and will adapt to NEPTUNE Canada Stage I mechanical, electrical, and software functional requirements. A state-of-the-art commercial off-the-shelf sonar (400 kHz) will be acquired and integrated onto a custom benthic tripod lander with a central tower and angular translation system. The 3-axis angular translation system will allow operators to precisely position the multi-beam sonar head into observing positions for both plume and diffuse flow measurements, will be adaptable to changes of the flow orientations, will be capable of autonomous response to significant geophysical events detected by other NEPTUNE Canada instrumentation via shore based control software, and will have scope to be moved within the vent field. Broader Impacts: This work should enable a real-time window to seafloor hydrothermal flow and its interaction with oceanic and geological processes. The great public awareness and educational impacts this installation could have for the general public and K-12 through college education/inspiration are obvious and should be encouraged. There may be some thesis benefits for engineering graduate students, as well.