2021 EarthScope-Oceans Steering Committee Meeting

11pm-2:30am Monday 20th Dec (Princeton day/time)

5am-8:30am Tuesday 21st Dec (Paris day/time)

noon-3:30pm Tuesday 21st Dec (Shenzhen day/time)

Present: John Chen, Tim Ahern, Frederik Simons, Karin Sigloch, Masayuki Obayashi, Yann Hello, Alessia Maggi

Late: Geunyoung Kim

Absent: Mathieu Belbeoch

Guest: Joel Simon

Agenda

1/ Welcome and Year in Review. Frederik Simons (15 minutes).

Papers were published. See webpage.
iOS App is working, is on iTunes/Apple store. Code on GitHub.
7 Stanford (Gualtieri) MERMAIDs launched in the Mediterranean. One was lost… R0006. Hit by a boat?
UN Decade endorsement, see 5/ below.
Princeton got funding for 1 deep (4000 m) CTD Mermaid. JAMSTEC has ordered 2 of those. Following up with Shigeki Hosoda. “MOBY”.
Following up with Argo/deep Argo and OSEAN.
Princeton+Geoazur data have flowed into the IRIS DMC. “EarthScope” will be the new name of IRIS+UNAVCO. See 2/ below.

2/ Data Committee Report requesting Steering Committee approvals. Tim Ahern (60 minutes)

Joel/Tim/Guust + IRIS people who helped a lot: Rick Benson, Un Joe, Inge Watson. Mary Templeton.

GeoCSV format as an “intermediate” standard to be adopted by the FDSN, which now has ESO as its member (Tim as representative, Frederik as alternate).

Recommendation 1. ESO measurements as Essential Ocean Variables (GOOS). Christoph Waldmann will lead the charge on this.

VOTE: FJS Yes. YJC Yes. TKA Yes. KS Yes. AM yes. MO Yes. YH. Yes. GK Yes. MOTION Passes.

Recommendation 2. ESO measurements to be shared with CTBTO.

NO VOTE. Continue discussions, understand requirements.

Recommendation 3. ESO Data Distribution Center Requirements.

The definition, that is. Currently IRIS is an ESO Data Center. Récif is also. IPGP is too. GFZ is also. All FDSN centers already follow, except GeoCSV.

VOTE: FJS Yes. YJC Yes. TKA Yes. KS Yes. AM yes. MO Yes. YH. Yes. GK Yes. MOTION Passes.

Recommendation 4. ESO partners support a Data Collection Center to do basic quality control etc. prior to distribution. We need to coordinate location interpolation, GeoCSV output, etc. ensuring consistency in algorithms for data curation. Need an implementation plan. What needs to be done? Joel to follow up with OSEAN’s Rocca to see what’s needed.

VOTE: FJS Yes. YJC Yes. TKA Yes. KS Yes. AM yes. MO Yes. YH. Yes. GK Yes. MOTION Passes.

Recommendation 5. Phased approach to meeting requirements.

Can (first?) go via IRIS, the way Princeton/Géoazur do now, which is compliant with the Data Distribution Center requirements.
Could (then?) become independent FDSN centers.

VOTE: FJS Yes. YJC Yes. TKA Yes. KS Yes. AM yes. MO Yes. YH. Yes. GK Yes. MOTION Passes.

Recommendation 6. ESO partners subscribe to a single common Data Release Policy. Encouragement would be rolling 2 years after recording.

NO VOTE. BUT WE AGREE THERE HAS TO BE A FINAL POLICY.

Agreement on 10% data openness for public-relations.

Agreement on using the ESO common DOI.

Debating final public release: encouraged 2 years after data collection, and required a/ 2 years after last transmission of invidual float - or

b/ 2 years after experiment ends.

Recommendation 7. New Data Committee Member from SUSTECH.

VOTE: FJS Yes. YJC Yes. TKA Yes. KS Yes. AM yes. MO Yes. YH. Yes. GK Yes. MOTION Passes.

3/ Update from Géoazur. Karin Sigloch & Yann Hello.

Karin is on the scene at Géoazur as the new head of autonomous system. Sébastien Bonnieux in place as post-doc, working on Mela, working on integration with new OSEAN floats. 2-3 new MERMAIDs (2022…). Higher-frequency electronics acquisition card in the works (e.g. whales, meteorology). Opportunities to work with PME / SMB which is OSEAN. It is hoped that Yann’s position can be “claimed” after his retirement.
Karin is now responsible for 3 cabled ocean stations (broadband seismometers) as well (Toulon/Nice/Italy). Good collocation opportunities. Growing interest in DAS nearby.
French funding call (pre-proposal) “Origins” - MERMAID enable global view of mantle including deep structure which relates to origin of life. Scope is to build new technology, useful to society and spurring economic activity. MERMAID Lander exists, explore measuring three-component (and other) data “bouncing OBS”. More wide-ranging seismology… more potential collaborative science partners. Power requirements? Selective activation of instruments (hydrophone, 3-axis, etc).
Stanford MERMAIDs deployed. Maybe need to be picked up. Princeton watching.
KOBE (Hiroko) ordered 4-5 more MERMAIDs. Customs… need to export right away or you end up paying VAT/customs.
MERMAID Lander down to 2000 m, on guide rope - not really sitting on the ocean bottom. (See AGU 2021 S15B-0243).
Coming soon 7 more MERMAIDS on “intervention” cruise, with Lander capability, 4000 m, and with RBR CTD sensor (not Seabird). Of which 4 go to Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. 2-3 others in the Mediterranean.
Coming soon 2 MERMAIDs on mooring line at 400 m. (Normal testing operations are already on mooring lines, at 100 m). Close to DAS. Salinity and temperature, and hydrophone.

4/ Update from JAMSTEC. Masayuki Obayashi.

Hosoda-san bought 2 deeper MERMAIDS with CTD.
Tsunami detection? Not enough sensitivity.
JAMSTEC is ok with Princeton matching their data to earthquakes. We will follow up on that.
Nippon Foundation? Seabed2030.

5/ “300 Mermaids” approved as a project in the framework of the United Nations “Ocean Decade” initiative. Karin Sigloch & Frederik Simons.

6/ SUSTECH deployment strategy. John Chen. NOT DISCUSSED. TO BE REVISITED. 19 MERMAIDS? FJS to put John in touch with Argo ships of opportunity… (Sailing/fishing boats…. Could be too small.)

7/ JAMSTEC. What is the status of the Polynesian tomography? Japanese PIs need to report results. Need to ask update from John in January. Where to go next with a new experiment?

8/ KIGAM interested in CTD. Projects evaluated by results, not services. Collecting data is not enough. Korean funds mainly based on land area.

Need to plan meeting in January to conclude all unfinished business.