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2019 Seafloor Geodesy cruise

Completed
By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center August 19, 2020

Performed maintenance on and retrieved data from seafloor geodetic instrument arrays offshore of Oregon and northern California in 2019, a USGS-Scripps-University of Washington-University of Hawaii partnership

Illustration of the seafloor off the coast with areas highlighted to show detail.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
2019 USGS seafloor geodesy cruise off southern Cascadia

This survey is part of the USGS project, “Cascadia Subduction Zone Marine Geohazards.”

Objectives

Constrain the rate and spatial distribution of locking (stress accumulation) along the megathrust offshore Cascadia with seafloor geodetic instrument arrays that operate using indirect-path acoustic ranging methods with Global Navigation Satellite System positioning (GNSS-A) (Figure 1)

Participants

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, scientists David Chadwell (PI), David Price and students; USGS scientist Rob Wyland

Principal Investigators

USGS scientists Ben Brooks, Janet Watt, Tom Parsons, and Todd Erickson; Scripps scientist David Chadwell; UW scientist David Schmidt; and UH scientist James Foster

Partners

Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps), University of Washington (UW), University of Hawaii (UH)

Platform Used

Humboldt State University’s R/V Coral Sea (Figure 2)

Data Collected

Performed maintenance and retrieved data from existing seafloor geodetic stations as part of multi-year effort to construct and install 2 new GNSS-A geodetic stations on the seafloor offshore southern Cascadia

Highlights

  • Autonomous waveglider (Figure 3) recovered after recording positioning for existing seafloor geodetic stations
  • 6 seafloor transponders were recovered for maintenance and battery replacement (Figure 4)
  • Deployment of 2 new GNSS-A sites (6 transponders and benchmarks) planned for 2021 field season

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Schematic of the seafloor showing a cutaway and how monitoring sites are set up.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Figure 1: Schematic diagram showing how seafloor geodetic stations are used to investigate subduction zone coupling.
Photo of a research boat anchored on the water.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Figure 2: Humboldt State University’s research vessel R/V Coral Sea.
An apparatus with various fins and equipment sits on the deck of a ship in a harbor.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Figure 3: Waveglider used to communicate with a geodesy station's seafloor transponders.

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A device that's sort of round and brightly colored sitting on the deck of a ship near a person's feet.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
A seafloor transponder recovered from the Cascadia subduction zone.

Below are news stories associated with this project.

Unlocking plate motions of the Cascadia subduction zone with seafloor geodesy

Unlocking plate motions of the Cascadia subduction zone with seafloor geodesy

Seeking understanding of the fundamental constraints on plate motions, rates of convergence, and shallow strain accumulation across one of the United...

Read Article

Performed maintenance on and retrieved data from seafloor geodetic instrument arrays offshore of Oregon and northern California in 2019, a USGS-Scripps-University of Washington-University of Hawaii partnership

Illustration of the seafloor off the coast with areas highlighted to show detail.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
2019 USGS seafloor geodesy cruise off southern Cascadia

This survey is part of the USGS project, “Cascadia Subduction Zone Marine Geohazards.”

Objectives

Constrain the rate and spatial distribution of locking (stress accumulation) along the megathrust offshore Cascadia with seafloor geodetic instrument arrays that operate using indirect-path acoustic ranging methods with Global Navigation Satellite System positioning (GNSS-A) (Figure 1)

Participants

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, scientists David Chadwell (PI), David Price and students; USGS scientist Rob Wyland

Principal Investigators

USGS scientists Ben Brooks, Janet Watt, Tom Parsons, and Todd Erickson; Scripps scientist David Chadwell; UW scientist David Schmidt; and UH scientist James Foster

Partners

Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps), University of Washington (UW), University of Hawaii (UH)

Platform Used

Humboldt State University’s R/V Coral Sea (Figure 2)

Data Collected

Performed maintenance and retrieved data from existing seafloor geodetic stations as part of multi-year effort to construct and install 2 new GNSS-A geodetic stations on the seafloor offshore southern Cascadia

Highlights

  • Autonomous waveglider (Figure 3) recovered after recording positioning for existing seafloor geodetic stations
  • 6 seafloor transponders were recovered for maintenance and battery replacement (Figure 4)
  • Deployment of 2 new GNSS-A sites (6 transponders and benchmarks) planned for 2021 field season

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Schematic of the seafloor showing a cutaway and how monitoring sites are set up.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Figure 1: Schematic diagram showing how seafloor geodetic stations are used to investigate subduction zone coupling.
Photo of a research boat anchored on the water.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Figure 2: Humboldt State University’s research vessel R/V Coral Sea.
An apparatus with various fins and equipment sits on the deck of a ship in a harbor.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Figure 3: Waveglider used to communicate with a geodesy station's seafloor transponders.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

A device that's sort of round and brightly colored sitting on the deck of a ship near a person's feet.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
A seafloor transponder recovered from the Cascadia subduction zone.

Below are news stories associated with this project.

Unlocking plate motions of the Cascadia subduction zone with seafloor geodesy

Unlocking plate motions of the Cascadia subduction zone with seafloor geodesy

Seeking understanding of the fundamental constraints on plate motions, rates of convergence, and shallow strain accumulation across one of the United...

Read Article
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