ERC ABYSS

From POST to ABYSS

Starting in October 2022 ABYSS project will open the way for Monitoring giant subduction faults using distributed acoustic measurements on the seafloor.

The objective of the ABYSS project is to probe the mechanical state of a fault zone prior to several large earthquakes (magnitude > 6) in order to identify systematic markers of the earthquake preparatory phase. The chosen target is one of the most active faults on Earth: the Chilean subduction zone. A promising technology will be used, the distributed acoustic measurement on optical fibers, which allows to detect earthquakes thanks to underwater telecommunication cables. ABYSS will rely on the GTD network along the Chilean coast. This unprecedented observation capability, combined with the development of real-time data stream processing, will strengthen the early warning system in Chile by improving the speed and accuracy of seismic warnings.

Detection of a magnitude 4.8 earthquake located 150km south west of the GTD fiber optic cable. P-, S- and surface waves are clearly visible along more than 130km of the cable. Here the 32500 "virtual" sensors

The experiment to detect earthquakes on the coast of central Chile began on October 27, when the DAS device was connected to the Concón node of the Prat cable. This device will be connected until the end of November, and has already been able to record some earthquakes.

POST project for submarine monitoring of earthquake in central Chile - PI D. Rivet

Submarine fiber optic cable already records earthquake data in Chile -

The Underwater Earthquake Observation Project (POST), led by Diane Rivet from the French laboratory Géoazur, in collaboration with the National Seismological Center, has already started the first stage of experimentation by using one of the strands of GTD's Prat fiber optic cable as seismic sensors.

Seminar about POST project at the Chiliean Sismogical National Center (CSN)

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