scholarly journals Accurate Multiple Ocean Bottom Seismometer Positioning in Shallow Water Using GNSS/Acoustic Technique

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimin Liu ◽  
Zhenjie Wang ◽  
Shuang Zhao ◽  
Kaifei He

The Global Navigation Satellite System combined with acoustic technique has achieved great economic benefits in positioning of ocean bottom seismometers, with hundreds of underwater transponders attached to seismometers typically being deployed during oil exploration. The previous single transponder positioning method ignored the similar underwater environments between the transponders. Due to the refraction effect of sound, the technique usually showed poor positioning accuracy in shallow water when the incidence angles are large. In this paper, the effect of sound ray bending is analyzed based on the sound ray tracing method in shallow water, and a new piecewise incidence angle model is proposed to improve the positioning accuracy of multiple objects in order to estimate the sound ray bending correction. The parameters of the new model are divided into groups and estimated by sequential least squares method, together with all of the transponders. The observability analysis is discussed in simulation and testing experiments in the South China Sea. The results show that the newly proposed method is able to make full use of the acoustic observation data of hundreds of transponders to accurately estimate the SRB correction, which could also significantly improve the positioning accuracy of multiple transponders.

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 3174-3184
Author(s):  
Weiwei Xu ◽  
Songyong Yuan ◽  
Weitao Wang ◽  
Xinheng Luo ◽  
Li Li

ABSTRACT The horizontal orientation estimation of an ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) is critical for providing reliable data for seismological studies. In this article, we applied three independent polarization analysis methods to estimate the absolute horizontal orientation of a pilot shallow-water OBS array in Bohai Sea, China. The OBS array was deployed in the autumn of 2018 and comprised 32 broadband seismometers lasting around 1 yr, aimed at investigating the geodynamics of North China craton and adjacent areas. The timings of the data were corrected through the correlation analysis of regional and teleseismic earthquake events, before the polarization analysis. Polarization analysis using P wave and Rayleigh wave, from both natural earthquakes and noise cross correlations, was performed. In total, 28 out of 29 stations obtained the effective estimates combining the three methods, of which 11 stations showed relatively robust results with variations well below 10° among the three methods. However, the superiority of one method over the others is not obvious. As there is a trade-off between the accepted final estimates and the number of qualified measurements defined by parameters such as the correlation coefficient threshold, window length, and filtering options, we investigated these effects using 15 different groups of parameters for the three methods, and the deviation statistics showed a distribution with the root mean square deviation of 9.2° for the whole array.


1981 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1649-1659
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Brocher ◽  
Brian T. Iwatake ◽  
Joseph F. Gettrust ◽  
George H. Sutton ◽  
L. Neil Frazer

abstract The pressures and particle velocities of sediment-borne signals were recorded over a 9-day period by an array of telemetered ocean-bottom seismometers positioned on the continental margin off Nova Scotia. The telemetered ocean-bottom seismometer packages, which appear to have been very well coupled to the sediments, contained three orthogonal geophones and a hydrophone. The bandwidth of all sensors was 1 to 30 Hz. Analysis of the refraction data shows that the vertical geophones have the best S/N ratio for the sediment-borne signals at all recording depths (67, 140, and 1301 m) and nearly all ranges. The S/N ratio increases with increasing sensor depth for equivalent weather conditions. Stoneley and Love waves detected on the Scotian shelf (67-m depth) are efficient modes for the propagation of noise.


1974 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 1251-1262
Author(s):  
William A. Prothero

abstract An ocean-bottom seismometer capsule containing a 1-Hz vertical seismometer and triggered digital recording system has been developed and tested off the coast of San Diego. The output of the seismometer is continuously digitized at 64, 128, or 256 samples per second. The digital data is mixed with a time code and passed through a 256 sample shift register which acts as a delay line. It is then mixed with synchronization characters, serialized, encoded, and recorded on a SONY TC800B tape recorder which is turned on when a seismic event occurs. The event trigger occurs when the seismic signal jumps to at least twice the time-averaged input signal. Data are recovered using the same recorder for playback and a decoder which provides an analog output for field data interpretation or a digital output for computer analysis. The capsule itself falls freely to the ocean bottom. After a predetermined time it is released from a 150-lb steel tripod and floats to the surface. A dual timer and explosive bolt system provides a high recovery reliability. A number of seismic events have been measured in field tests and the system has proven to be extremely simple to check out, diagnose, and deploy.


Author(s):  
Jui-Chun Freya Chen ◽  
Wu-Cheng Chi ◽  
Chu-Fang Yang

Abstract Developing new ways to observe tsunami contributes to tsunami research. Tidal and deep-ocean gauges are typically used for coastal and offshore observations. Recently, tsunami-induced ground tilts offer a new possibility. The ground tilt signal accompanied by 2010 Mw 8.8 Chilean earthquake were observed at a tiltmeter network in Japan. However, tiltmeter stations are usually not as widely installed as broadband seismometers in other countries. Here, we studied broadband seismic records from Japan’s F-net and found ground tilt signals consistent with previously published tiltmeter dataset for this particular tsunamic event. Similar waveforms can also be found in broadband seismic networks in other countries, such as Taiwan, as well as an ocean-bottom seismometer. We documented a consistent time sequence of evolving back-azimuth directions of the tsunami waves at different stages of tsunami propagation through beamforming-frequency–wavenumber analysis and particle-motion analysis; the outcomes are consistent with the tsunami propagation model provided by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. These results shown that dense broadband seismic networks can provide a useful complementary dataset, in addition to tiltmeter arrays and other networks, to study or even monitor tsunami propagation using arrayed methods.


2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Coltelli ◽  
Danilo Cavallaro ◽  
Giuseppe D’Anna ◽  
Antonino D’Alessandro ◽  
Fausto Grassa ◽  
...  

<p>In the Sicily Channel, volcanic activity has been concentrated mainly on the Pantelleria and Linosa islands, while minor submarine volcanism took place in the Adventure, Graham and Nameless banks. The volcanic activity spanned mostly during Plio-Pleistocene, however, historical submarine eruptions occurred in 1831 on the Graham Bank and in 1891 offshore Pantelleria Island. On the Graham Bank, 25 miles SW of Sciacca, the 1831 eruption formed the short-lived Ferdinandea Island that represents the only Italian volcano active in historical times currently almost completely unknown and not yet monitored. Moreover, most of the Sicily Channel seismicity is concentrated along a broad NS belt extending from the Graham Bank to Lampedusa Island. In 2012, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) carried out a multidisciplinary oceanographic cruise, named “Ferdinandea 2012”, the preliminary results of which represent the aim of this paper. The cruise goal was the mapping of the morpho-structural features of some submarine volcanic centres located in the northwestern side of the Sicily Channel and the temporary recording of their seismic and degassing activity. During the cruise, three OBS/Hs (ocean bottom seismometer with hydrophone) were deployed near the Graham, Nerita and Terribile submarine banks. During the following 9 months they have recorded several seismo-acoustic signals produced by both tectonic and volcanic sources. A high-resolution bathymetric survey was achieved on the Graham Bank and on the surrounding submarine volcanic centres. A widespread and voluminous gas bubbles emission was observed by both multibeam sonar echoes and a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) along the NW side of the Graham Bank, where gas and seafloor samples were also collected.</p>


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