RAPID: Development and Deployment of a Prototype Full Ocean Depth OBS

这一“快速行动”提案寻求资金，以于2013年1月在马里亚纳海沟开发、建造和部署一个原型全深海海底地震仪。目前的OBS仅限于5000- 6000米的部署深度，并且在这些深度或附近部署的少数实验具有较差的仪器和数据返回率。随着最近发生的大型海啸俯冲带地震，以及对全球范围内地震监测以了解地球深部过程的广泛兴趣，人们越来越认识到对全海洋深度仪器的科学需求，专业人员有机会利用詹姆斯卡梅隆最近载人潜水到马里亚纳海沟挑战者深渊所开发的全海洋深度技术。此外，2013年1月还将进行一次机会巡航，届时将在约8 600米处部署该仪器，并收集约一周的深度地震数据。更广泛的影响：这一开发项目具有长期潜力，可使用全海洋深度的海洋观测系统来监测并可能预测有发生大规模破坏性海底地震风险的地区。仅在过去十年中，大型海底地震就在全球夺走了数十万人的生命，造成数千亿美元的损失，并造成灾难性的环境破坏，如福岛核电站灾难。

This RAPID proposal seeks funding to develop, build and deploy a proto-type full ocean depth Ocean Bottom Seismograph (OBS) in the Mariana Trench in January 2013. Current OBSs are limited to deployment depths of 5000-6000m, and the few experiments that have deployed at or near those depths have had poorer instrument and data return rates. The scientific need for full ocean depth instruments is increasingly being recognized with recent large tsunamigenic subduction zone earthquakes, as well as broader interest in full global coverage of seismic monitoring for understanding deep earth processes.The PIs have been offered the opportunity to utilize full-ocean depth technology developed for the recent manned dive by James Cameron to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. In addition, a cruise of opportunity exists in January 2013, in which the instrument will be deployed at about 8600 m and collect approximately a week of seismic data at depth.Broader Impacts:This development project has the long term potential for using full ocean depth OBSs to monitor and perhaps forecast areas at risk for large destructive submarine earthquakes. Large submarine earthquakes in the last decade alone have taken hundreds of thousands of lives globally, cost hundreds of billions of dollars and resulted in catastrophic environmental damage such as the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.