The Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) is a key instrument for the geophysical study of sea sub-bottom layers. At present, more reliable autonomous instruments capable of recording underwater for long periods of time and therefore handling large data storage are needed. This paper presents a new Ocean Bottom Seismometer designed to be used in long duration seismic surveys. Power consumption and noise level of the acquisition system are the key points to optimize the autonomy and the data quality. To achieve our goals, a new low power data logger with high resolution and Signal–to-Noise Ratio (SNR) based on Compact Flash memory card is designed to enable continuous data acquisition. The equipment represents the achievement of joint work from different scientific and technological disciplines as electronics, mechanics, acoustics, communications, information technology, marine geophysics, etc. This easy to handle and sophisticated equipment allows the recording of useful controlled source and passive seismic data, as well as other time varying data, with multiple applications in marine environment research. We have been working on a series of prototypes for ten years to improve many of the aspects that make the equipment easy to handle and useful to work in deep-water areas. Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) have received growing attention from the geoscience community during the last forty years. OBS sensors recording motion of the ocean floor hold key information in order to study offshore seismicity and to explore the Earth’s crust. In a seismic survey, a series of OBSs are placed on the seabed of the area under study, where they record either natural seismic activity or acoustic signals generated by compressed air-guns on the ocean surface. The resulting data sets are subsequently used to model both the earthquake locations and the crustal structure.

An anchored marine seismometer, acquiring real-time seismic data, has been built and tested. The system consists of an underwater seismometer, a surface buoy, and a mooring line that connects them. Inductive communication through the mooring line provides an inexpensive, reliable, and flexible solution. Prior to the deployment the dynamics of the system have been simulated numerically in order to find optimal materials, cables, buoys, and connections under critical marine conditions. The seismometer used is a high sensitivity triaxial broadband geophone able to measure low vibrational signals produced by the underwater seismic events. The power to operate the surface buoy is provided by solar panels. Additional batteries are needed for the underwater unit. In this paper we also present the first results and an earthquake detection of a prototype system that demonstrates the feasibility of this concept. The seismometer transmits continuous data at a rate of 1000 bps to a controller equipped with a radio link in the surface buoy. A GPS receiver on the surface buoy has been configured to perform accurate timestamps on the seismic data, which makes it possible to integrate the seismic data from these marine seismometers into the existing seismic network.