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Title: Illuminating seafloor faults and ocean dynamics with dark fiber distributed acoustic sensing

Abstract

Distributed fiber-optic sensing technology coupled to existing subsea cables (dark fiber) allows observation of ocean and solid earth phenomena. We used an optical fiber from the cable supporting the Monterey Accelerated Research System during a 4-day maintenance period with a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) instrument operating onshore, creating a ~10,000-component, 20-kilometer-long seismic array. Recordings of a minor earthquake wavefield identified multiple submarine fault zones. Ambient noise was dominated by shoaling ocean surface waves but also contained observations of in situ secondary microseism generation, post–low-tide bores, storm-induced sediment transport, infragravity waves, and breaking internal waves. DAS amplitudes in the microseism band tracked sea-state dynamics during a storm cycle in the northern Pacific. These observations highlight this method’s potential for marine geophysics.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Earth and Planetary Science Department, University of California, Berkeley, 300 McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA., Energy Geosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
  2. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA.
  3. Energy Geosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA., Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Rice University, MS-126, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
Publication Date:
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1576077
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Science Journal Volume: 366 Journal Issue: 6469; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Lindsey, Nathaniel J., Dawe, T. Craig, and Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan B. Illuminating seafloor faults and ocean dynamics with dark fiber distributed acoustic sensing. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1126/science.aay5881.
Lindsey, Nathaniel J., Dawe, T. Craig, & Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan B. Illuminating seafloor faults and ocean dynamics with dark fiber distributed acoustic sensing. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5881
Lindsey, Nathaniel J., Dawe, T. Craig, and Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan B. Thu . "Illuminating seafloor faults and ocean dynamics with dark fiber distributed acoustic sensing". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5881.
@article{osti_1576077,
title = {Illuminating seafloor faults and ocean dynamics with dark fiber distributed acoustic sensing},
author = {Lindsey, Nathaniel J. and Dawe, T. Craig and Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan B.},
abstractNote = {Distributed fiber-optic sensing technology coupled to existing subsea cables (dark fiber) allows observation of ocean and solid earth phenomena. We used an optical fiber from the cable supporting the Monterey Accelerated Research System during a 4-day maintenance period with a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) instrument operating onshore, creating a ~10,000-component, 20-kilometer-long seismic array. Recordings of a minor earthquake wavefield identified multiple submarine fault zones. Ambient noise was dominated by shoaling ocean surface waves but also contained observations of in situ secondary microseism generation, post–low-tide bores, storm-induced sediment transport, infragravity waves, and breaking internal waves. DAS amplitudes in the microseism band tracked sea-state dynamics during a storm cycle in the northern Pacific. These observations highlight this method’s potential for marine geophysics.},
doi = {10.1126/science.aay5881},
journal = {Science},
number = 6469,
volume = 366,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Thu Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5881

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Cited by: 162 works
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