Construction and Field-Testing of 16 Broadband Ocean Bottom Seismographs for the OBSIC Fleet

理解地球过程，如地幔动力学和板块构造，及其产生的现象，如地震、火山和行星尺度的元素循环，需要持续部署海底仪器，因为地球表面约70%被海洋覆盖。虽然来自陆基仪器的数据可以告诉我们许多关于海底大尺度结构和地震活动的信息，但许多与大洋中脊、热点、俯冲带和大陆边缘的结构和动力学有关的问题只能通过海底地震仪(OBSS)获得的数据来解决。为科学家获取海底地震数据提供了一种高效、有效的手段来推进发现。伍兹霍尔海洋研究所(WHOI)的海底地震计仪器中心(OBSIC)为所有研究将受益于海底地震观测的美国调查人员提供海底地震仪和海上技术支持。OBSIC目前运营着124台海底地震仪，其中30台是短周期地震仪，其余94台是各种类型的宽带设备。该奖项支持建造16台新的宽带海底地震仪，这将使OBSIC机队总数达到150台，宽带OBS数量达到110台。新的OBS将携带一台纳米级Trillium T-240三分量宽带地震仪和一个差压计，可部署到6000米处，续航时间至少为15个月。OBS将配备一个低功率的Seascan时钟，该时钟由能量循环的芯片级原子钟控制，将提供更高的计时精度，而不会造成不必要的功率损失。总体而言，这些新仪器是对NSF支持的OBS机队的一项重要改进，将增加OSBIC部署更多仪器的OBS阵列的能力，支持更多的同时实验，并减少部署资助实验的等待时间。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding Earth processes, such as mantle dynamics and plate tectonics, and the phenomena they produce, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and planet-scale elemental cycling, requires sustained deployments of seafloor instruments, since ~ 70% of the earth's surface is covered by the oceans. While data from land-based instruments can tell us much about large-scale structure and earthquake activity under the oceans, many questions related to the structure and dynamics of mid-ocean ridges, hot-spots, subduction zones, and continental margins can only be addressed by data acquired with Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs). Discovery is advanced by an efficient, effective means for scientists to acquire ocean-bottom seismic data. The Ocean Bottom Seismometer Instrument Center (OBSIC) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) provides seafloor seismographs and at-sea technical support to all U.S. investigators whose research would benefit from seafloor seismic observations. OBSIC currently operates a fleet of 124 Ocean-Bottom Seismographs (OBS), of which 30 are short-period and the remaining 94 are broadband units of varied type. This award support construction of 16 new broadband ocean-bottom seismographs that will bring the total OBSIC fleet to 150 and the broadband OBS count to 110. The new OBS will carry a Nanometrics Trillium T-240 3-component broadband seismometer and a Differential Pressure Gauge, be deployable to 6000 m, and have an endurance of at least 15 months. The OBS will be equipped with a low-powered Seascan clock disciplined by a power-cycled Chip-Scale Atomic Clock that will provide improved timing accuracy without an undue power penalty. Overall, these new instruments are an important enhancement to the NSF-supported OBS fleet, and will increase OSBIC's capacity to field OBS arrays with greater numbers of instruments, to support additional contemporaneous experiments, and to reduce the wait-time for the deployment of funded experiments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.