Collaborative Research: Quantifying Hydrothermal Flow and Heat Transfer Using Acoustic Imaging in the NEPTUNE Canada Cabled Observatory at Main Endeavour Field, JdFR

由于在深海中工作的困难，特别是在高温热液喷口附近，这些喷口会向海洋喷出热的、腐蚀性的、富含金属的流体，因此需要开发和测试新的仪器，以便确定与这些系统相关的重要热通量和化学通量。本研究涉及独特的声呐系统（COVIS）的测试、实施和数据恢复，该系统使用声呐和多普勒相移对热液喷口羽流上升速率、体积通量、羽流形状和随时间分布进行定量测量。还将开发软件，以便处理所得数据并提取热液喷口喷出的羽流及其上升的热羽流以及沿喷口周围海底扩散的热水流中的热通量。现场测试将在Juan de Fuca Ridge上Endeavor喷口场的Grotto热液喷口群进行，该喷口目前是加拿大洋中脊监测站的一部分。由此产生的羽流定量声学图像将用于生成海底热通量值，这是理解热液喷口动力学的基础。来自洞穴喷口的热液柱的三维图像也将生成。项目目标包括确定海底随时间变化的流量测量值与水柱较高位置的流量之间的联系。这项工作的更广泛的影响包括为海洋科学建设基础设施，开发硬件和软件，这些硬件和软件将补充和潜在地实施NSF在胡安德富卡山脊轴向火山喷口地区新安装的海洋观测系统基础设施，该系统计划于2013年安装仪器。其他影响包括与加拿大科学家的国际合作，支持EPSCoR州（新泽西州）的一个机构，支持来自科学领域代表性不足群体的两个pi，培训研究生和本科生，以及通过加拿大NEPTUNE和NOAA外联引擎进行公众外联。

Due to the difficulty in working in the deep sea, especially around high-termperature hydrothermal vents that belch hot, corrosive, metal-rich fluids into ocean, novel instumentation needs to be developed and tested so important thermal and chemical fluxes associated with these systems can be determined. This research involves the testing, implementation, and data recovery from a unique acoustic sonar system (COVIS) that uses acoustic sonar and doppler phase shifts to make quantitative measurements of hydrothermal vent plume rise rates, volume fluxes, and plume shapes and distributions with time. Software will also be generated to enable processing of the resulting data and the extraction of heat fluxes, both in the plume emmanating from the hydrothermal vent and its rising thermal plume and from the diffuse flow of hot water along the seafloor around the vent. Field testing will occur at the Grotto hydrothermal vent cluster at the Endeavor vent field on the Juan de Fuca Ridge which is presently part of the Canadian mid-ocean ridge monitoring station. Resulting quantitative acoustic images of the plumes will be used to generate seafloor heat flux values that are fundamental to understanding the dynamics of hydrothermal venting. Three dimensional images of the hydrothermal plumes coming from the Grotto vents will also be generated. Project goals include determining linkages between time-varying flow measurements on the seafloor and fluxes higher in the water column. Broader impacts of the work include building infrastructure for oceanographic science in terms of developing hardware and software that will complement and potentially be implemented on NSF's newly installed Ocean Observing System infrastructure at the vent fields at Axial Volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which is slated to be instrumented in 2013. Additional impacts include international collaboration with Canadian scientists, support of an institution in an EPSCoR state (New Jersey), support of two PIs from groups under-represented in the sciences, training of graduate and undergraduate students, and public outreach through the NEPTUNE Canada and NOAA outreach engines.