Monterey Bay Ocean Bottom International Science Experiment (MOISE)
MOISE is a multi-faceted undertaking designed to:
- Develop and demonstrate ROV installation of a major instrument as part of a Seafloor Observatory project. Although this instrument will only be deployed for three months, most of the manipulations are identical to those required for a permanent deployment.
- Collect and evaluate data from a broadband seismometer deployed on the Pacific plate (western side of the San Andreas system of transform faults) to complement data from the land-based seismographs. Anticipated results are better located local events because the site is on the west side of the major structures.
- Evaluate the merit of sensor burial and contemporaneous collection of tidal data to offset low-frequency marine noise that has historically obscured data from these types of instruments.
- Extract both local and global seismic events to assess the value of a permanent seismic observatory in this type of tectonic setting.
- Correlate the non-earthquake events on the broadband instrument, a 1 hz seismometer, a single channel hydrophone and a standard 4.5 hz seismometer to determine whether these represent mass-wasting events.
More about Seafloor Observatories