The Bransfield Strait - South Shetlands OBS deployment is a six month
deployment of 14 ocean bottom seismographs near the Antarctic Peninsula.
It is a joint project involving Washington University (Douglas Wiens) and
Scripps Institute of Oceanography (Leroy Dorman), and is
funded by the U.S. Antarctic Program (NSF - Office of Polar Programs).
The OBSs were deployed from the US Antarctic Research vessel
Lawrence M. Gould in November-December, 1998, and were recovered
from the Nathaniel Palmer in May, 1999. The OBS deployment was
conducted in conjuction with the SEPA project (Seismic Experiment in Patagonia and Antarctica), which installed broadband seismographs
on land in the same region. The OBSs were of the ONR type, with seven instruments equipped with new broadband PMD sensors and seven instruments
with 1 Hz L-4 sensors.
OBS Location Map
Photo of OBS recovery
Example of local earthquake recorded across the array
Comparison of broadband OBS seismograms to records from adjacent land broadband instrument
February 6, 1999 Santa Cruz Earthquake (Ms 7.3)
January 25, 1999 Colombia Earthquake (Ms 5.7)
Related Sites:
Doug Wiens' Home Page
Seismology program, Washington University
Seismic Experiment in Patagonia and Antarctica
Southwest Pacific Seismic Experiment (SPASE)
ONR OBS facility at Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Dpto de Geophysica, Universidad de Chile
NSF Polar Research Program
Comments or questions?? Send email to
doug_at_kermadec.wustl.edu
Latest revision: November 9, 1999
