High resolution seafloor thermometry for internal wave and upwelling monitoring using Distributed Acoustic Sensing.

ABSTRACT: Temperature is an essential oceanographic variable (EOV) that still today remains coarsely resolved below the surface and near the seafloor. Here, we gather evidence to confirm that Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology can convert tens of kilometer-long seafloor fiber-optic telecommunication cables into dense arrays of temperature anomaly sensors having millikelvin (mK) sensitivity, thus allowing to monitor oceanic processes such as internal waves and upwelling with unprecedented detail. Notably, we report high-resolution observations of highly coherent near-inertial and super-inertial internal waves in the NW Mediterranean sea, offshore of Toulon, France, having spatial extents of a few kilometers and producing maximum thermal anomalies of more than 5 K at maximum absolute rates

SUBMITTER: Pelaez Quinones JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10576814 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature