Evolving challenges, innovations, and opportunities in Ocean Bottom Sensing

Although earthquake-prone regions are densely monitored by over 26,000 registered terrestrial seismograph stations, the scientific community needs data from the 71% of Earth's surface covered by oceans to better understand Earth's structure, tectonic processes, and potential hazards. Ocean-bottom seismic (OBS) data acquisition, however, presents engineering challenges due to the deep-sea environment. Recent advancements in OBS platforms have enabled innovative solutions to address data quality, completeness, system reliability, and ease of deployment, expanding the scope of oceanographic studies. This poster explores engineering challenges in OBS platforms and the technological solutions Nanometrics has developed to meet the needs of diverse marine environments and use cases. The company's innovations, such as integrated kinematic gimbals for levelling and designs certified for 6,000m depths, enable seamless multidisciplinary data collection supported by various sensing instruments and data loggers.