Distributed fiber-optic sensing technology coupled to existing subsea cables (dark fiber) allows observation of ocean and solid earth phenomena. We used an optical fiber from the cable supporting the Monterey Accelerated Research System during a 4-day maintenance period with a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) instrument operating onshore, creating a ~10,000-component, 20-kilometer-long seismic array. Recordings of a minor earthquake wavefield identified multiple submarine fault zones. Ambient noise was dominated by shoaling ocean surface waves but also contained observations of in situ secondary microseism generation, post–low-tide bores, storm-induced sediment transport, infragravity waves, and breaking internal waves. DAS amplitudes in the microseism band tracked sea-state dynamics during a storm cycle in the northern Pacific. These observations highlight this method’s potential for marine geophysics.
Although typically used to measure dynamic strain from seismic and acoustic waves, Rayleigh‐based distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is also sensitive to temperature, offering longer range and higher sensitivity to small temperature perturbations than conventional Raman‐based distributed temperature sensing. Here, we demonstrate that ocean‐bottom DAS can be employed to study internal wave and tide dynamics in the bottom boundary layer, a region of enhanced ocean mixing but scarce observations. First, we show temperature transients up to about 4 K from a power cable in the Strait of Gibraltar south of Spain, associated with passing trains of internal solitary waves in water depth <200 m. Second, we show the propagation of thermal fronts associated with the nonlinear internal tide on the near‐critical slope of the island of Gran Canaria, off the coast of West Africa, with perturbations up to about 2 K at 1‐km depth and 0.2 K at 2.5‐km depth. With spatial averaging, we also recover a signal proportional to the barotropic tidal pressure, including the lunar fortnightly variation. In addition to applications in observational physical oceanography, our results suggest that contemporary chirped‐pulse DAS possesses sufficient long‐period sensitivity for seafloor geodesy and tsunami monitoring if ocean temperature variations can be separated.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1848166
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10465349
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
- Volume:
- 128
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2169-9275
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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