Aquarius

Portable, freefall ocean bottom system, operational at any angle and suitable for depths of up to 6000 m/19,685 ft.

• The advanced triaxial, broadband seismometer is fully operational at ±90 °, making it ideal for free-fall deployment onto the sea floor at depths of up to 6000 m
• A three-axis magnetometer and a MEMS accelerometer record the seismometer’s 3D position on the seabed for data rotation during post-processing
• The seismometer has a flat response between 120 s and 100 Hz, with a user-selectable long-period corner from 120 s to 1 s, so you can tailor the response to the environment
• Battery is sized to record seismic data for up to 18 months, with options to extend this if required
• Using acoustic telemetry, transfer state-of-health parameters and noise performance plots from the seabed; select the desired response of the sensor and; measure the time offset of the digitiser housed in the OBS pressure vessel
• Options to utilise acoustic telemetry to transmit triggered event data to a receiver located at the surface on a buoy or rig in near-real-time for alert applications
• Data transmission between the surface and the Aquarius on the seafloor at up to 9000 bps using the direct acoustic communication
• Aquarius is fitted with an absolute pressure gauge (APG) and a hydrophone. with options to upgrade these if desired e.g. for tsunami detection
• Data are stored locally in a dual redundant 128 GB Micro-SD card and can be downloaded using a Gigabit Ethernet after recovery
• A single cable connecting the Aquarius to the Güralp deck unit powers the system for data retrieval and system configuration. This allows for separate and concurrent charging of the batteries via a dedicated connector to an external charger, so that the system can be re-deployed as rapidly as possible
• The system is equipped with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for fast and easy re-deployments, equating to approximately one hour to re-charge, for each month deployment