Renewal of the Ocean Bottom Seismic Instrument Center at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

This project supports the operation of the Ocean Bottom Seismometer Instrument Center (OBSIC) at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. This facility provides instrumentation and personnel to acquire seismometer data throughout the world’s oceans to NSF-funded investigators. Seismology is the primary tool that scientists use to investigate Earth's structure and dynamic processes, such as earthquakes and volcanism.

About 70% of Earth's surface is covered by water, and many questions related to the nature of mid-ocean ridges, hot-spots, subduction zones, and continental margins can only be addressed by data acquired with ocean-bottom seismometers.

This award supports the continued operation of OBSIC at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and builds upon the accomplishments of the facility’s initial 5-years. OBSIC will continue to provide state-of-the-art ocean-bottom seismometers that meet the needs of users for a mix of instruments that enable high-fidelity recording across the frequency spectrum extending from that of long-period surface waves to short-period airgun-generated body waves.

The OBSIC Data Metrics Hub will provide quantitative and readily comprehended assessments of data quality, as well as data products such as seismometer orientations, compliance, and tilt corrections, that will speed up data analysis for all users. Key components of OBSIC include standardization of instrumentation, enhanced component tracking, the maintenance of instrumentation at a high readiness state, and sustaining a surge capacity of non-OBSIC technicians from other institutions such as the UNOLS Marine Tech Pool to augment OBSIC personnel at sea where necessary.

The facility maintains a website that provides details on ocean-bottom seismometer capabilities, OBS scheduling and availability, summaries of on-going, future, and completed experiments, links to data acquired with OBSIC instrumentation at the Earthscope Data Management Center, and a bibliography of papers enabled by OBSIC services. Additional outreach and information will be provided through open meetings such as at the American Geophysical Union Annual Fall Meeting.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.