SGER: Development of the MERMAID Float: an Autonomous Vehicle for Recording Regional Earthquakes within the World's Oceans

University Of California-San Diego Scripps Inst Of Oceanography, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

P.I. - Orcutt Proposal - 0236557 Development of the MERMAID float: an autonomous vehicle for recording regional earthquakes within the world oceans PROJECT SUMMARY The PIs propose to test whether untethered floats can record arrivals of teleseismic P waves while drifting at depths of 1-2 km. Specifically, they propose to construct a prototype float for recording earthquakes within the oceans. They have named this float MERMAID (Mobile Earthquake Recorder in Marine Areas by Independent Divers). If the proposed pilot project is successful, it will opens up the possibility of using existing monitoring efforts to fill in the large gaps in global teleseismic coverage posed within the ocean basins, and will significantly enhance our ability to image the deeper regions of the Earth through tomographic inversions