Observing hydrocarbon particles and multiphase flows in submarine seeps - an integrated imaging system

PI要求提供资金，以开发一种综合成像系统，该系统将同时测量海底渗漏气泡/液滴的特性和周围海水的“结构”。这项工作将产生气泡通量和扩散的模型，可以是有用的研究人员在许多不同的领域工作。这将有助于更好地了解天然海洋碳氢化合物渗漏对水圈和大气层的影响，迫切需要评估其重要性和贡献，特别是在全球变暖和我们不断变化的环境也在公众中引起激烈辩论的今天。这项工作提供了结构良好的教育方案，并有明确的评估方法。通过拟议项目开发的仪器具有促进国际和跨学科合作的巨大潜力，特别是如果在OOI这样的海洋电缆观测台阵列中实施。考虑到理解自然渗漏及其搅动水流之间的相互作用的基本挑战和需要，该提议致力于开发一种创新的成像系统，该系统将几乎同时测量液滴/气泡的尺寸、气泡表面的外观、形态学行为、上升速度和排放，以及水的三维速度、湍流统计、气泡尾流中的涡流，以及气泡诱导混合的特征长度和时间尺度。这一新仪器将克服目前研究界用于研究海底渗漏的成像系统中的一些关键缺陷。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The PI requests funding to develop an integrated imaging system that would concurrently measure the characteristics of submarine seep bubbles/drops and the “structure” of the surrounding ocean water. This work would produce models for bubble fluxes and dispersal that can be useful to researchers working in many different domains. It would contribute to a better understanding of the influence of natural marine hydrocarbon seepage to the hydrosphere and atmosphere is urgently needed to evaluate its importance and contribution, especially these days when global warming and our changing environment is also highly debated in public. This work provides well-structured educational programs with clear methods of assessment. The instrument to be developed through the proposed project has a high potential to foster international and interdisciplinary collaboration, especially if implemented in a marine cabled observatory array like OOI. Given the fundamental challenges and the need of understanding the interaction between the natural seep and its agitated water flow, this proposal is dedicated to developing an innovative imaging system that would near-simultaneously measures the size of drops/bubbles, appearance of the bubble surface, morphological behavior, rise velocity, and discharge, and the three-dimensional velocity of water, turbulent statistics, vortices in the bubble wake, and the characteristics length and time scales in bubble-induced mixing. This new instrument would overcome some key deficiencies in imaging systems currently available to the research community studying submarine seeps.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.