小型低周波音源及び電力増幅器を用いた深海曳航型音波探査技術の開発

概要

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There are mineral-rich hydrothermal deposits around of the seabed in Japanese exclusive economic zone (EEZ). For securing of mineral resources in Japan, a precise investigation and estimation technique is highly emphasized. Our group has studied a new exploration technique to evaluate the distribution of underwater layer structures of the hydrothermal deposits using “Mils-Cross” method with a low-frequency acoustic source deployed into the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) which is running at a low-altitude near the sea bottom. In last researches, our group developed a prototype low-frequency acoustic source, and confirmed that this source is useful to acquire the sub-bottom profiling data under the bottom of Hitachi-Tone river by executing a performance test. Based on these results, we developed a prototype deep-water acoustic exploration system to find out the layered structures under the actual hydrothermal deposits. We deployed our prototype system into the deep-water exploration towed body “Deep-Tow” that is installed into the research vessel “Natsushima, ” and implemented a cruising test to acquire the actual acoustic data under the hydrothermal deposits in the East-China Sea. After some analysis using these data, we confirmed that our prototype system can acquire the layered structures under of the sea-bottom and sub-bottom profiling data around the hydrothermal deposits.[This abstract is not included in the PDF]