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

由于在深海工作的困难，特别是在高温热液喷口周围，这些喷口将热的、腐蚀性的、富金属的流体喷入海洋，需要开发和测试新的仪器，以便能够确定与这些系统相关的重要热通量和化学通量。这项研究涉及一种独特的声学声纳系统(COVIS)的测试、实施和数据恢复，该系统使用声纳和多普勒相移来定量测量热液喷口羽流的上升速率、体积通量以及随时间的羽流形状和分布。还将生成软件，以便能够处理由此产生的数据并提取热流中的热通量，包括热液喷口及其上升的热流以及热水沿喷口周围海底的扩散流动。实地测试将在Juan de Fuca Ridge上奋进喷口的洞穴热液喷口群进行，该喷口目前是加拿大大洋中脊监测站的一部分。由此产生的羽流的声学定量图像将被用来产生海底热流值，这些热流值是了解热液喷发动力学的基础。来自石窟喷口的热液羽流的三维图像也将被生成。项目目标包括确定海底随时间变化的流量测量与较高水柱流量之间的联系。这项工作的更广泛影响包括在开发硬件和软件方面为海洋科学建立基础设施，这些硬件和软件将补充并有可能在美国国家科学基金会新安装的海洋观测系统基础设施上实施，这些基础设施位于胡安德富卡山脊Axial火山的喷口领域，计划于2013年进行仪器测试。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，支持科学界代表性不足的团体的两个PI，培训研究生和本科生，以及通过海王星加拿大和NOAA外联引擎进行公众宣传。

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.