S-wave and shallow sediments offshore
NGI developed the last years a prototype of an S-wave source at the sea bottom for oil and gas exploration. As shear strength is one of the fundamental geotechnical parameters to constrain for geohazard assessment, there is a clear interest in acquiring more direct S-wave information, otherwise inferred indirectly from primary P-wave reflections.
As geotechnical boring is expensive and seldom done for just shallow studies, all-new seismic technology capable of providing more S-wave information without a too high cost would be beneficial for offshore geohazards. We are therefore working on designing a smaller version of the actual S-source prototype to be used for shallow structures and operated from a classic research vessel.
This activity is of high priority and external funding will be necessary, but preliminary work may be carried out within the following projects (Finneidfjord and Trondheim). This activity is part of the ICG Offshore Geohazards project and in cooperation with UiT and FFI.