Seismic stations will help to search for hydrocarbons on the shelf

A new technology and automatic hardware complex for long-term bottom seismic survey have been developed at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The equipment will make it possible to study the areas of the Earth's crust hidden under water columns. It will also help optimize the study of oil and gas deposits on the ocean shelf.

The research complex is a network of bottom stations that are equipped with devices for long-term autonomous registration of seismic and hydroacoustic vibrations.

"The study of seismic waves provides information about the structure and from and oceans of seismoacoustic devices", senior researcher of the Laboratory of underwater research and testing techniques "Marine Engineering" IO RAS Dmitry Ilyinsky explained to Izvestia.

According to him, the bottom stations are made in the form of glass spheres with a diameter of 33 centimeters, which are protected by means of a plastic casing. The obtained data will be stored on the onboard computer and copied via wireless communication channels when the stations are lifted to the surface. In this case, the designers have implemented an accelerated method of information exchange, which will allow for multiple rearrangement of devices on the seabed during one research season.

Read more in the Izvestia exclusive piece:

Digging deep: underwater seismic robots will find oil and gas on the ocean shelf