Distributed Strain, Temperature and Acoustic seNsing Suite (DiSTANS)

DiSTANS项目将使用最先进的技术，提供一种全新的监测地下变化的方法。这为研究地下过程提供了改变游戏规则的数据捕获的可能性。这种方法使用与电信类似的光纤电缆，以远远超过传统监测技术的速度和密度从地下获取数据。光缆中的光纤有细小的缺陷。这项新技术沿着纤维发射一束光脉冲，光脉冲会反射出缺陷并返回到记录仪中。光返回时间的微小差异将告诉我们地下电缆周围非常小的振动、温度变化和运动。因为电缆是传感器，我们可以监测地下情况长达15公里，并看到电缆上25厘米的差异。这些测量每秒进行10万次，这意味着也可以测量非常快速的变化。这种新技术被称为分布式应变、温度和声学传感套件，可以在许多不同的地方使用。它可以用来监测火山和地震，但也可以用来跟踪交通和行人。在第一个项目中，我们将在北诺福克海岸安装DiSTANS系统，那里的海水以每年10厘米的速度侵蚀海岸，威胁着人们的房屋和企业，并对使用海岸的人和野生动物构成危险。我们会监测山体滑坡前的小裂缝和滑坡，以及每天和季节的温度变化对这些裂缝和滑坡的影响。

The DiSTANS project will use state-of-the-art technology to provide a brand-new method of monitoring changes underground. This offers the possibility of game-changing data capture to examine subsurface processes. This method uses fibre optic cables similar to those used in telecommunications, to get data from underground at a speed and density that far exceeds traditional monitoring technology. The optical fibres in the cables have small imperfections in them. The new technology shoots a pulse of light along the fibres, which reflects off the imperfections and returns to the recorder. The tiny differences in the time that the light takes to return will tell us about very small vibrations, temperature changes and movements around the underground cable. Because the cable is the sensor, we can monitor the underground conditions for up to 15 km and see differences along the cable as close together as 25 cm. These measurements are taken one hundred thousand times each second, which means that very quick changes can also be measured.This new technology, called distributed strain, temperature and acoustic sensing suite, can be used in many different places. It can be used to monitor volcanoes and earthquakes, but can also be used to keep track of traffic and people walking. For the first project, we will be installing the DiSTANS system on the North Norfolk coast, where the sea erodes the coast at a rate of 10 cm per year, threatening people's houses and businesses, and posing a danger for people and wildlife who use the coast. We will monitor small cracking and slumping before landslides, and how these are affected by temperature changes each day and season.