University Scientists, Engineers Collaborating on Seismic Survey

摘要

A team of scientists and engineers from the University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA, is installing earthquake sensors above ground along a 6 mile (9.5 km) stretch of an existing fiber-optic telecommunication cable in the western Truckee Meadows area of Reno. The objective is to develop a system for large-scale subsurface imaging and detecting earthquakes using laser and fiber-optic technology."We'll be recording seismic signals generated by passing planes, trains, and automobiles along the currently unused, buried optical fiber," said Scott Tyler, Professor of Geological Sciences and an expert in fiber-optic/laser-sensing systems. "As the vibrations from the transportation system pass through the underlying geology, it causes a very small change in the optical fiber's length, which can be recorded using a laser-based system called Distributed Acoustic Sensing or DAS." The DAS system sends a pulse of laser light through the fiber and measures the perturbations in the backscattered light from every point along its length. The fiber optic system is sensitive enough to detect footsteps as well as passing jet airplanes.