A high temporal resolution optical flow meter for measuring aqueous flow in active plate boundary systems

Plate boundaries are systems with dynamic fluid flow response to tectonic and overburden pressures, gas hydrate processes, heat flow and temperature anomalies, and chemical and biochemical reactions. In this paper, we seek to relate fluid flow and transient or volumetric strain events with other measurements of seismicity, pore pressure, temperature, and chemistry to fully understand the dynamics of active tectonic processes. In all of these environments, high-resolution measurements from optical flow meters (OFMs) that are sensitive to seismic and aseismic slip as well as gas transport events, are necessary to comprehend these dynamic hydrologic environments. We ultimately a plan to hook the OFM to sub-sea cable buoy based satellite networks for real-time analysis.