Collaborative Research: General Purpose Tool for Acoustic Remote Sensing and Mapping of Hydrothermal Flow

提案-0136768 0136644本提案的目标是开发和制作一种声学遥感和绘图工具，专门用于研究海底热液流。新系统将可部署在各种遥控潜水器、深拖平台和固定海底观测网络上，用于研究和探测高低温热液流状态。该传感器将采用两种新的声学方法，利用声学闪烁热成像法和海底羽流粒子分布和流动的体积研究，探测海底扩散热液流并进行定量绘图。这些方法已被证明使用商业声纳系统安装在MJASON在以前的三个实验。拟议的传感器将改进商业系统的操作和技术限制，并使用各种平台进行长时间规模的实验和更大规模的调查。此外，拟议的传感器将能够进行高质量的科学数据收集和分析，从而为新的声学方法和热液流遥感应用提供一个灵活的试验平台。该系统将与现有的和拟议的海底观测站兼容，从而能够通过因特网进行交互式操作。和华盛顿大学应用物理实验室（APL-UW，Jones等人）这是根据我们使用商业声纳进行热液观测的经验得出的。拟议的仪器开发对于PI长期观察集中和扩散热液流的目标至关重要。设计、制造和当地测试将由APL-UW负责，而Rutgers小组将根据科学测量要求协助制定系统规格，并将进行现场测试，包括测试数据分析。这种尺度对于研究热液流动状况对潮汐力以及火山和构造事件的反应非常重要。该传感器将实现新的声学检测和映射技术，用于表征感兴趣的大区域（10平方公里）的扩散流。据建议，该仪器还将使研究热液系统的净热通量及其与地球物理、海洋学和生物过程的关系成为可能。

Proposal - 0136768 0136644The goal of this proposal is to develop and fabricate an acoustic remote sensing and mapping tool dedicated to studying hydrothermal flow at the seafloor. The new system will be deployable on a variety of ROVs, deep towed platforms, and stationary seafloor observatory networks for the study and detection of high and low temperature hydrothermal flow regimes. The sensor will implement two new acoustic methods that will enable detection and quantitative mapping of diffuse hydrothermal flow at the seafloor using acoustic scintillation thermography (AST) and volumetric studies of plume particle distributions and flow above the seafloor. These methods have been demonstrated using a commercial sonar system mounted on the ROV Jason during three previous experiments. The proposed sensor will improve upon the operational and technical limitations of the commercial system and enable long time scale experiments and larger-scale surveys using a variety of platforms. In addition, the sensor proposed will enable high quality scientific data collection and analysis thus providing a flexible test bed for new acoustic methods and applications of remote sensing to hydrothermal flow. The system will be compatible with available and proposed seafloor observatories, enabling interactive operation via the Internet.This proposal is the product of an ongoing collaboration between groups at Rutgers (Rona et al.) and the Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington (APL-UW, Jones et al.) and arises from our experience in using commercial sonars for hydrothermal observations. The proposed instrumentation development is central to the goal of the PIs to observe focused and diffuse hydrothermal flow over long time periods. Design, fabrication, and local testing will be the responsibility of APL-UW whereas, the Rutgers group will contribute to the process of developing system specifications from scientific measurement requirements and will conduct the field tests, including analysis of test data.The new remote sensing tool will enable measurements of plume flow variability at long time scales (of order 1 year). Such scales are important in studies on the response of hydrothermal flow regimes to tidal forcing as well as to volcanic and tectonic events. The sensor will enable the implementation of new acoustic detection and mapping techniques for characterizing diffuse flow over large regions (10s of km2) of interest. It is proposed that this instrument will also enable studies of net heat flux from hydrothermal systems and its relation to geophysical, oceanographic, and biological processes.