Multiplexed Distributed Acoustic Sensing Offshore Central Oregon

Abstract

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) on submarine fiber-optic cables is providing new observational insights into solid Earth processes and ocean dynamics. However, the availability of offshore dark fibers for long-term deployment remains limited. Simultaneous telecommunication and DAS operating at different wavelengths in the same fiber, termed optical multiplexing, offers one solution. In May 2024, we collected a four-day DAS dataset utilizing an L-band DAS interrogator and multiplexing on the submarine cables of the Ocean Observatory Initiative’s Regional Cabled Array offshore central Oregon. Our findings show that multiplexed DAS has no impact on communications and is unaffected by network traffic. Moreover, the quality of DAS data collected via multiplexing matches that of data obtained from dark fiber. With a machine-learning event detection workflow, we detect 31 T waves and the S wave of one regional earthquake, demonstrating the feasibility of continuous earthquake monitoring using the multiplexed offshore DAS. We also examine ocean waves and ocean-generated seismic noise. We note high-frequency seismic noise modulated by low-frequency ocean swell and hypothesize about its origins. The complete dataset is freely available.