Guust Nolet is a man with quite the job description : he is a professor who manages a fleet of MERMAIDs . These underwater looker are not folklore but advanced - twenty-four hours robotic devices that probe deep within Earth ’s drape – the fiery magma and sway layer beneath the planet ’s crust .
TheMERMAIDslook a scrap like ridged neon cannonballs , each topped with an antenna and a hydrophone , that record seismal Wave in an effort to piece together a map of our satellite ’s interior and the feature of its high temperature budget . Such info is vital to our understanding of why Earth has not cooled over the eons to become a deadened , geologically nonoperational satellite like Venus , Mars , or our very own Moon .
Around 70 percent of Earth ’s open is piddle and much of this orbit lack seismic recordings . In fact , the Moon is more explored than the under layers of Earth . That ’s whyNoletof Université Côte d’Azur and his inquiry partner Frederik Simons ofPrinceton Universitydeveloped MERMAIDs – Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers .
" The initial inspiration came to me in 1989 , when I was on sabbatic at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography , " Nolet , also an emeritus prof of Princeton University , told IFLScience . " During a luncheon conversation with Gerald D’Spain , I learned about his efforts to measure underwater noise using a seismometer aboard a plasterer’s float in the Gulf of Mexico .
At the clock time , however , the engineering science was not yet ripe : GPS was just beginning and not miniaturized , while orbiter communication was limited to a kilobyte or so using Argos satellites .
" But when the oceanographers develop plasterer’s float to appraise temperature and brininess , I pick the mind up again . This was 2003 . "
The squad has now expand its web of nine MERMAIDs to a fleet of 50 , in what they say will be one of the most comprehensive seismic mapping organisation on Earth . Already their work has paid off : Earlier this twelvemonth , the squad find that volcanoes in the Galapagos are feed via a narrow conduit 1,900 kilometers ( 1,180 miles ) deep that siphons blistering stone to the surface , called a magma plume .
" Deployment is very simple and does not require a scientific vas . It can even be done by hand ( they count about 50 kg ) , " said Nolet . " After switching them on and checking that the satellite communication works aright , one can but throw them into the water ! "
By letting the mermaid descend the profoundness of the sea at 1,500 meters ( 4,920 feet ) , they can mind to acoustic signal , include those of whales and ships passing . When a MERMAID take heed an earthquake , it rises to the surface within 95 minute of arc and sends by electronic mail both a GPS sign and a seismogram of haphazardness unheard to mere human ears . This makes it less parturiency intensive than a realm - based station or an sea bottom seismometer .
Since moving ridge behave differently free-base on the material they ’re locomote through , scientist can make discount about what ’s below . In this case , the squad say they can get a line about the temperature , density , and buoyancy of a mantel plumage as far down as 700 kilometers ( 435 statute mile ) beneath Earth ’s open . The meshwork of MERMAIDs will specifically clear up the large drape feather below the South Pacific Ocean by collecting seismal activeness from many location that can be stitched together like one massive CAT scan .
" We actually calculate that a web of 1,000 MERMAIDS , deploy for 5 years worldwide , would earmark us to make images of the Earth ’s mantle at better than 200 km resolve , enough to serve many open questions about how the Earth actually maintains its temperature and does not become a dead planet like Mars , " order Nolet .
Earth has or else remained thermally unchanging – to the pointedness that we are still able to subsist on it . As much as volcano and seism are deadly nuisances , they are also crucial to make our planet inhabitable .
The squad is now work with a 2nd genesis that has a lifetime anticipation of 5 to 6 twelvemonth until the bombardment run out , in what Simons said " represents a terrific betterment over the earlier propagation but also over any other autonomous submerged seismic detection system , whether in the urine column ( where MERMAID is the only instrumentalist ) or at the sea bottom ( the classical " sea - bottom seismometer , or OBS ) . "
To combat the environmental wallop when the electric battery run out , the MERMAIDS have two - way planet communicating so they can relay their GPS military position and be picked up by a nearby ship . Twenty - four of the float are now owned and operated by SUSTech in China , succeed by Princeton , JAMSTEC , GeoAzur , Kobe University , and Japanese and French research fleets .
" Gallic company OSEAN is now make our MERMAIDs commercially uncommitted – for some 35,000 euros you too , can buy one ( and they redeem to an sea near you ! ) and then we ’ll pull off the data ingathering and interpretation for scientific discipline , " sound out Simons , who will talk about the work at the178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America .
A restriction of the MERMAIDS is that they can only see S moving ridge for nearby earthquake , which means the tomographic imaging is for phosphorus waves . These waves are more or less less sensitive to temperature anomaly , which is finally the goal of their images . The third generation of MERMAIDs is now in development .
" Once we go multidisciplinary , the dream of launching ~1,000 MERMAIDS ( at a price of about 60 million over 5 years ) will hopefully become a realness . "
