NSF is currently negotiating with the SCRIPPS Institution of
Oceanography, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory to establish a National Ocean Bottom Seismic Instrumentation
Pool (OBSIP) for use by the U.S. geosciences community.
The OBSIP will initially consist of two types of instruments, ~150
compact, inexpensive OBS/H instruments for short-deployment, active-source
crustal seismic experiments and rapid-response studies, and >100 long-deployment
(up to 12 months or longer) three-component OBS with excellent short and
intermediate period response for regional earthquake and teleseismic
investigations. The instruments in the OBSIP will be available for use by any
interested U.S. investigator.
The OBSIP will provide information to potential users on the
availability of Pool instruments, and will work with users to match their
scientific needs with available instrumentation. The three Institutional
Instrument Contributors (IICs) will provide complete operational and technical
support for OBS operations at sea. The cost of OBS operations (e.g., shipping,
instrument charges, and technical support) will be funded through the Pool. PIs
will, however, be required to include an informational budget in their proposal
outlining these costs. Data will be provided to users in a standard PASSCAL segy
format. All data collected with Pool instruments will be archived in a central
data repository, and will be available to any interested investigator after a
proprietary period consistent with NSF policy.