Set It and Forget It: Deploying Long-Term Seismic Monitoring Instruments

When Nautilus Live explores with Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), the aft deck becomes jam-packed with state-of-the-art technology! The team uses many different abbreviations for the deep-sea tools that we employ while diving in the eastern Pacific.

Take a dive through the lingo — and instruments used in this expedition — to learn more!

♨️ Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) is an instrument package that contains sensors for measuring the conductivity, temperature, and pressure of seawater.

? Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) are instruments that can detect small changes in pressure on the seafloor. These are installed at all major sites of the NEPTUNE observatory to stream real-time data to tsunami warning centers along the west coast.

? Tiltmeters are used to measure slight changes in the inclination of the earth’s surface and are usually used in connection with volcanology, geology, and earthquake seismology.

? Sonardyne Fetch subsea sensor logging nodes deployed in water depths between 400 and 2,500 meters. These instruments enable data to be transmitted to scientists ashore for further analysis.  

All of these tools and more are utilized during our continued work at various observatory sites including Barkley Canyon, the continental margin at Clayoquot Slope, the abyssal plain of Cascadia Basin, and the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents.