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# 2018 Vythos |
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Vythos is a novel system for exploring and monitoring the seafloor. Although more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, nearly 95 percent of the ocean floor remains virtually unexplored. Vythos proposes to close this knowledge gap by establishing a seafloor monitoring observatory (SMO). This SMO is based on a massively distributed platform of interlinked sensory nodes that are able to descend up to 1000 meters below sea level for up to two weeks at a time. Depending on its user’s needs, the SMO’s sensors can be customized to monitor various features of the seafloor, including temperature, salinity, audio and pH, as well as recording mechanical waves through the sediments.
Our team consists in 2 geo-scientist and one electronics scientist. Our involvement with deep sea applications started more than 15 years ago with research on methane hydrates, pressure core characterization tools, and tools for in-situ characterization. This led to our first deployment of an in-situ characterization tool in the Red Sea to determine the geotechnical properties of deep sediments. This project synergistically combined our expertise in deep-sea, high-pressure equipment, sediment properties, and microelectronics. The proposed effort builds from this cumulative experience and lessons learned. The novel small, recoverable submersibles will allow for multi-physics characterization using versatile and economical deployments within a massively-distributed configuration.more
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