EAGER: Collaborative Research: Shallow Cased Drilling Capabilities in Extreme Environments

地震学是研究由地震、火山和许多其他震源引起的地球振动的学科。为了更好地理解这些振动，地震学家在精心控制的环境中安装了高度敏感的设备（地震仪），以记录尽可能小的信号，提供更高质量的数据进行分析。就像用一套糟糕的扬声器听音乐可以消除特定歌曲的细微差别一样，安装在嘈杂设施中的地震仪无法探测到火山发出的细微信号。随着这些实验离实际的震源（火山）越来越近，环境变得越来越难以控制，导致数据噪音更大，信号更少。因此，地震学家努力改进地震检波器在这些困难地点的安装，以改善记录的数据，从而提高对火山如何工作的理解，以及如何更好地了解它所带来的风险。该项目将通过开发一种小型直升机便携式钻井平台，极大地改善极端环境下地震仪的安装，该钻井平台可以飞行到非常高的高度，并在非常低的温度下运行。测试这种新钻探能力的目标将在南极洲埃里伯斯火山的山顶，这是地球上最南端的活火山，距离美国在南极洲麦克默多站的最大研究基地不到25英里。在这个项目结束时，研究人员将有能力在世界上几乎任何环境的任何地方安装高质量的后孔式地震仪。本项目包括在高海拔（3000米以上）和极冷地区（如高火山和/或山地/极地地区）的各种岩石条件下安装孔后式地震传感器的新技术的开发和概念验证演示。特别是，我们建议开发一种直升机便携式钻井系统，该系统可以钻出15.25厘米的套管和灌浆垂直后孔，适用于高性能宽带地震传感器或其他仪器。为了充分证明这一能力，研究人员在埃里伯斯火山山顶附近的五个地点和南极洲罗斯岛周围的三个地点进行了钻探，以促进新的埃里伯斯地震和次声网络的安装。根据该奖项开发的能力将对其他领域和地区的地球物理和更一般的地球科学调查有用。该系统的可移植性及其在极端环境下运行的能力确保了它将更适合在世界各地的各种条件下运行。这种能力将有助于收集新型和更高质量的数据，以促进科学进步。通过在设计阶段参与一个广泛和经验丰富的团队，我们希望从集体的专业知识和知识共享中受益，并确保我们开发的设计和解决方案在最终产品中得到有效实施，这将广泛地造福地球科学界。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

Non-Technical AbstractSeismology is the study of vibrations in the earth that result from earthquakes, volcanoes, and many other seismic sources. To better understand these vibrations, seismologists install highly sensitive equipment (seismometers) in carefully controlled environments to record the smallest possible signals providing higher quality data to analyze. Like listening to music on a bad set of speakers can remove the nuances of the particular song, seismometers in noisy installations cannot detect the nuances of say signals from a volcano. As these experiments move closer to the actual source (volcano) the environment gets more difficult to control, resulting in noisier data and less signal. Therefore, seismologists strive to improve the installations of seismometers in these difficult locations to improve the data recorded, and thus, improve the understanding of how, in this case a volcano, works and how better to understand the risks it poses. This project will seek to vastly improve seismometer installations in very extreme environments by developing a small, helicopter-portable drilling rig that can be flown to very high altitudes and be operated in very low temperatures. The target for the testing of this new drilling capability will be at the summit of Mt Erebus, Antarctica the southernmost active volcano on Earth and one that is less than 25 miles from the United States largest research base in Antarctica McMurdo Station. At the conclusion of this project, the researchers will have the capability to install high quality, posthole-style seismometers anywhere in the world in nearly any environment.Technical AbstractThis project consists of the development and proof-of-concept demonstration of new technology to install posthole-style seismic sensors in varied rock conditions at high altitude (above 3,000 m) and extremely cold locations, such as high volcanoes and/or mountain/polar regions. In particular, we propose to develop a helicopter-portable drilling system that can drill up to 15.25 cm cased and grouted, vertical postholes suitable for high-performance broadband seismic sensors or other instrumentation. A full demonstration of this capability is proposed by drilling five sites near the summit of Mt Erebus volcano and three sites around the perimeter of Ross Island, Antarctica to facilitate the installation of a new Erebus seismic and infrasound network. The capabilities developed under this award will be useful to geophysical and more general Earth science investigations in other areas and regions. The portability of the system combined with its ability to operate in extreme environments ensures that it will be more than suitable for operating in diverse conditions world-wide. This capability will enable collection of new types of and higher quality data, for scientific advancement. By engaging a broad and experienced team in the design phase, we expect to benefit from collective expertise and knowledge sharing and ensure that the designs and solutions we develop are effectively implemented in the final product that will broadly benefit the Earth science community.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.