The PIs request funding to develop a cost effective approach for accurately measuring short-term vertical motions of the seafloor, maintaining a continuous long-term record of seafloor pressure without the requirement for costly ship time. This capability will be developed by equipping a University of Hawaii Wave Glider with an integrated acoustic telemetry package, a dual frequency geodetic-grade Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, meteorological sensors, an onboard embedded processing unit, and cellular telemetry. They will demonstrate the use of the Wave Glider to interrogate high accuracy pressure sensors on the sea floor to retrieve pressure and temperature data, and transmit the seafloor data along with high rate GPS observables and meteorological data to shore. They will then integrate the seafloor measurements with surface air pressure data, and precise vertical measurements of the sea surface from kinematic positioning of the Wave Glider?s GPS to determine cm-scale accuracy vertical seafloor motions.
Broader Impacts:
The ability to make real-time measurements of seafloor motions has the potential to dramatically enhance prediction of marine geo-hazards. Further, if these glider systems can eventually be adapted for GPS-A systems (i.e., measurement of horizontal as well as vertical motions) it will revolutionize our understanding of seafloor deformation. This proposed project has the potential to create a platform that would be capable of investigating scientific questions related to tsunamigenic hazards in offshore regions of subduction zones and unstable volcano flanks. These questions are of great importance to society as many millions of people are currently vulnerable to tsunami impacts. The addition of a low-cost, non-ship based resource for collection seafloor geodetic data would be extremely beneficial to the scientific community. It will also provide funding for a graduate student.
