Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has attributes that make it a potentially transformative technology in geosciences and engineering. DAS records ground motion along fiber-optic cables that are comparable to those obtained by single-component accelerometers or geophones. The transformative potential arises from the fiber itself being the sensor and allowing for a spatially continuous measurement. The fiber can be tens of kilometers in length and it can be located in shallowly buried trenches, in boreholes, or in some combination. The fiber geometry can encompass a large volume that can be tens of cubic kilometers in size. DAS inherently possesses properties of a large-N seismic array. The rapidly increasing interest in DAS arises from its potential to be used in continuous arrays that are kilometers in length while providing spatial resolution of meters and frequency response from millihertz to kilohertz.
DAS applications in geosciences and engineering are numerous and growing including transformative opportunities for deploying early warning systems for earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, continental and marine landslides, and avalanches, and for monitoring reservoirs and civil infrastructure. DAS can complement and supplement conventional seismic sensors and arrays already used across a wide range of disciplines.
The DAS Research Coordination Network (RCN) has four main goals:
The proposed DAS RCN will use the mechanisms of workshops and short courses to engage a range of potentially interested groups. Workshops will focus on producing white papers in areas of science applications, data management, and future technology developments. Short courses will provide hands-on instruction in DAS-specific subjects such as data analysis, data management, and best field practices. The RCN is proposed for three years, after which it is expected that DAS will become permanently incorporated into new or existing facilities, and the community will become self-sustaining through community-wide facilities and professional societies. This research coordination network is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation under award EAR-1948737.
"How Fiber-optic Seismometers are Revolutionizing the Way Earthquakes are Measured", The San Diego Union Tribune, June 2021
"DAS: A Seismic Shift in Sensing", Optics & Photonics News, June 2021
"Fibers Pick Up Silicon Valley Traffic Changes During Quarantine", Eos, October 2020
"World’s Loudest Bands Create Seismic Waves", Science, May 2020
"Seismologists See Future in Fiber Optic Cables as Earthquake Sensors", SRL News Article, December 2019
"Fiber-Optic Networks Find a New Use as Seismic Sensor Arrays", Eos, April 2019
"Unused Fiber-Optic Cables Repurposed as Seismic Sensors", Eos, March 2019
The DAS RCN plans to gather community input through a variety of methods. A DAS mailing list is available through the IRIS Message Center at: https://ds.iris.edu/message-center/topic/das/ to provide a forum for discussion and for announcements of events, workshops, meetings, or other opportunities in the DAS community. Please consider joining us at one or more of the following events to provide your input and get involved.
Calls-for-papers:
Upcoming events:
Past events:
Comments are welcome, and we encourage you to get in touch with the steering committee members with any suggestions, questions, or concerns. Queries can also be directed to das-rcn@iris.edu.
Herbert Wang | University of Wisconsin-Madison | Co-PI |
Scott Tyler | University of Nevada, Reno | Co-PI |
Robert Woodward | IRIS | Co-PI |
Jonathan Ajo-Franklin | Rice University | |
Matt Becker | California State University, Long Beach | |
Dante Fratta | University of Wisconsin-Madison | |
Mark Hausner | Desert Research Institute | |
Zuyuan He | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | |
Charlotte Krawczyk | GFZ-Potsdam | |
Yingping Li | ||
Nate Lindsey | FiberSense | |
Eileen Martin | Virginia Tech | |
Whitney Trainor-Guitton | Colorado School of Mines | |
Zhongwen Zhan | Caltech | |
Lucas Zoet | University of Wisconsin-Madison | |
Danica Roth | Colorado School of Mines |
DAS RCN Steering Committee Meeting Reports |
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2020: March April May June July August September October November |
In addition to attending RCN-wide events, you can join one or more topical working groups simply by sending an email to the lead whose email is provided under the Working Group tab. They range in membership from half a dozen to two dozen. They meet with frequencies that range from monthly to twice a year. Meetings often include short presentations in order to discuss current topics. Working groups prepare resources for the RCN, such as bibliographies, event notices, and write brief reports on the state-of-the-art in their topical areas.
Please reach out to the working group leads to get involved. If groups have regular meeting times these are noted in the table below.
Data Management | Jerry Carter (IRIS) | jerry.carter@iris.edu | 2nd Tuesdays at 10am ET |
Energy Technologies and CO2 Monitoring | Julia Correa (LBL) and Ariel Lellouch (Stanford) | juliacorrea@lbl.gov and ariellel@stanford.edu | |
Earthquake and Array Seismology | Ray Willemann (AFRL) | raymond.willemann@us.af.mil | |
Urban Seismology | Biondo Biondi (Stanford) | biondo@sep.stanford.edu | |
Instrumentation | Kasey Aderhold (IRIS) and Zuyuan He (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) | kasey@iris.edu and zuyuanhe@sjtu.edu.cn | |
Machine Learning | Eileen Martin (Virginia Tech) and Whitney Trainor-Guitton (Colorado School of Mines) | eileenrmartin@vt.edu and wtrainor@mines.edu | 3rd Thursdays at 1pm ET |
Engineering Infrastructure | Dante Fratta (University of Wisconsin-Madison) | fratta@wisc.edu | |
Hydrology | Mark Hausner (DRI) | mark.hausner@dri.edu | |
Geomorphology | Danica Roth (Colorado School of Mines) and Claire Masteller (WUSTL) |
droth@mines.edu and cmasteller@wustl.edu |
|
Cryosphere | Luke Zoet (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Brad Lipovsky (University of Washington) | lzoet@wisc.edu and bpl7@uw.edu | |
Volcanic and Seismic Hazard Monitoring | Lotte Krawczyk (GFZ Potsdam) | lotte@gfz-potsdam.de | |
Marine Geophysics | Nate Lindsey (FiberSense) | nate.lindsey@fiber-sense.com | |
Geotechnical | Matt Becker (Cal State-Long Beach) | matt.becker@csulb.edu | |
Early-Career DAS Network (Pigtails) | Nate Lindsey (FiberSense) | nate.lindsey@fiber-sense.com | |
Research and Development Test Sites | Andreas Wuestefeld (NORSAR) | Andreas.Wuestefeld@norsar.no |