SARTI Group, Electronics Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, UPC.Vilanova i la Geltrú 08800, Spain.
Sensors (Basel). 2012;12(3):3693-719. doi: 10.3390/s120303693. Epub 2012 Mar 19.
The Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) is a key instrument for the geophysical study of sea sub-bottom layers. At present, more reliable autonomous instruments capable of recording underwater for long periods of time and therefore handling large data storage are needed. This paper presents a new Ocean Bottom Seismometer designed to be used in long duration seismic surveys. Power consumption and noise level of the acquisition system are the key points to optimize the autonomy and the data quality. To achieve our goals, a new low power data logger with high resolution and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) based on Compact Flash memory card is designed to enable continuous data acquisition. The equipment represents the achievement of joint work from different scientific and technological disciplines as electronics, mechanics, acoustics, communications, information technology, marine geophysics, etc. This easy to handle and sophisticated equipment allows the recording of useful controlled source and passive seismic data, as well as other time varying data, with multiple applications in marine environment research. We have been working on a series of prototypes for ten years to improve many of the aspects that make the equipment easy to handle and useful to work in deep-water areas. Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) have received growing attention from the geoscience community during the last forty years. OBS sensors recording motion of the ocean floor hold key information in order to study offshore seismicity and to explore the Earth's crust. In a seismic survey, a series of OBSs are placed on the seabed of the area under study, where they record either natural seismic activity or acoustic signals generated by compressed air-guns on the ocean surface. The resulting data sets are subsequently used to model both the earthquake locations and the crustal structure.
海洋底地震仪 (OBS) 是海底次底层地球物理研究的关键仪器。目前，需要更可靠的自主式仪器，能够长时间在水下记录并因此处理大容量数据存储。本文提出了一种新的海洋底地震仪，旨在用于长时间的地震测量。采集系统的功耗和噪声水平是优化自主性和数据质量的关键。为了实现我们的目标，设计了一种新的低功耗数据记录仪，具有高分辨率和基于 Compact Flash 存储卡的信噪比 (SNR)，以实现连续数据采集。该设备代表了电子、机械、声学、通信、信息技术、海洋地球物理学等不同科学和技术学科的联合工作成果。这种易于操作且复杂的设备允许记录有用的可控源和被动地震数据以及其他时变数据，在海洋环境研究中有多种应用。十年来，我们一直在研究一系列原型，以改善使设备易于操作和在深水区工作的许多方面。在过去的四十年中，海洋底地震仪 (OBS) 受到了地球科学界的越来越多的关注。用于记录海底运动的 OBS 传感器包含了研究近海地震活动和探索地壳结构的关键信息。在地震测量中，一系列 OBS 被放置在研究区域的海底上，在那里它们记录自然地震活动或海洋表面压缩空气枪产生的声信号。随后使用所得数据集来对地震位置和地壳结构进行建模。
