• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2009

Natural magnetic fields are attenuated by electrically conductive water. For that reason, marine magnetotelluric surveys have collected data at long periods (1000-100 000 s). The mantle structure has been the main target of seafloor magnetotelluric measurements. To ascertain crustal structure, however, electromagnetic data at shorter periods are important, e.g. in investigations of megathrust earthquake zones, or in natural resource surveys. To investigate of the former, for example, electromagnetic data for periods of less than 1000 s are necessary. Because no suitable ocean bottom electromagnetometer (OBEM) has been available, we have developed a small OBEM and ocean bottom electrometer (OBE) system with a high sample rate, which has an arm-folding mechanism to facilitate assembly and recovering operations. For magnetic observation, we used a fluxgate sensor. Field observations were undertaken to evaluate the field performance of our instruments. All instruments were recovered and their electromagnetic data were obtained. Results of the first experiment show that our system functioned well throughout operations and observations. Results of other field experiments off Tottori support the claim that the electromagnetic data obtained using the new OBEM and OBE system are of sufficient quality for the survey target. These results suggest that this device removes all instrumental obstacles to measurement of electromagnetic fields on the seafloor.