Space Technology and the Benthic Boundary Layer: Project HEBBLE

Experience and technology gained in exploring the planets are directly applicable to long-term experiments in the deep ocean, where new avenues of investigation are being explored which use unattended autonomous systems for the study of the transport of sediments by the high energy benthic boundary layer in Project HEBBLE. The use of spacecraft-derived technology in the design and implementation of these instrument systems is illustrated by the use of a microprocessor-based data subsystem to sample and control the individual instruments. One such instrument system to be deployed for HEBBLE is the Benthic Water Tunnel. This facility is being designed to examine the in situ processes of erosion and deposition of marine sediments in the deep ocean as a function of stress in the imposed boundary layer. Instruments on this facility will monitor the particle concentration, and the fluid velocity and stress fields.