SGER: A Seafloor Camera System for Flow Rate Measurements in Black Smoker Vents

PI已要求提供资金，以开发和测试一个海底摄像系统，该系统可以使用视频图像分析来测量通过黑烟热液喷口的流体流动。通过黑烟囱喷口的流体流动在洋壳和海洋之间的热量和化学物质交换中发挥着重要作用。这种流动向多样化的海底生态系统输送能量，并将构造和岩浆过程与化学和生物过程联系起来。测量这些系统中的流体流动对于测量通量和理解复杂的系统联系至关重要。尽管测量流体流速的重要性，但目前没有能够在黑烟囱喷口中获得长期流量测量的仪器。高温、低pH值和矿物质沉淀使侵入性技术不可行。为了解决这个问题，PI建议开发一种基于图像的非侵入性仪器，以获得黑烟喷口的流速。该相机系统将采用一种新的技术来测量黑烟流，称为光学羽流测速法（OPV），该技术已在实验室中开发，并已被证明在模拟黑烟流上工作良好。这项研究将开发一种工具，提高我们了解海洋热液系统水文学和各种相关过程的能力，包括地质力学过程与其他过程（如热量和化学迁移以及生物生产力）之间的相互作用。这项技术的发展和实地试验将为在大洋中脊的许多喷口区进行广泛的试验开辟可能性。这项工作还将支持一名年轻科学家的工作。Crone在通过媒体进行公众宣传方面有着良好的记录，并将他的结果传达给科学和普通观众。

The PI has requested funding to develop and test a seafloor camera system that can measure fluid flow through black smoker hydrothermal vents using video image analysis. Fluid flow through black smoker vents plays a significant role in the exchange of heat and chemicals between the oceanic crust and the ocean. This flow delivers energy to a diverse subseafloor ecosystem and serves to link tectonic and magmatic processes to chemical and biological processes. Measurements of fluid flow in these systems are essential for measuring fluxes and understanding complex systematic linkages. Despite the importance of measuring fluid flow rates, there is currently no instrument capable of obtaining long term flow measurements in black smoker vents. High temperatures, low pH, and mineral precipitation make invasive techniques infeasible. To address this problem, The PI proposes to develop a non-invasive image-based instrument to obtain flow rates in black smoker vents. This camera system will employ a new technique for measuring black smoker flow, called Optical Plume Velocimetry (OPV), which has been developed in the laboratory and has been shown to work well on simulated black smoker flows. Broader ImpactsThis study will develop an instrument that will increase our ability to understand the hydrology of marine hydrothermal systems and a variety of related processes, including the interactions between geomechanical processes and other processes such as heat and chemical transport and biological productivity. The development and field test of this technology will open up a wide range of possible experiments at many vent fields on the mid-ocean ridge. This work will also support the work of a young scientist. Crone has a strong record of public outreach through the media, and communicating his results to scientific and general audiences.