An expedition from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Kyoto managed to rescue three seismometers from the bottom of the sea that will serve to better understand activity in the dreaded Guerrero Breach and predict large earthquakes.
With the reading of these seismometers, scientists hope to better understand the activity of the Guerrero Breach, located on the border of the oceanic plates of Cocos and North America, to find out if it is possible for a major earthquake to affect the Mexican capital, in whose valley 20 million people live.
With frenetic activity, scientists on board the oceanographic vessel have managed to recover three of the seven meters, also known as OBS.
One of them is already lost and the other three remain at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean waiting to try to rescue them again.
El Puma, the UNAM oceanographic ship carrying the expeditionaries, sailed 1,400 miles from the port of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, to the junction of the Cocos Plate and the North American Plate, where the Guerrero Breach is located, which has not recorded significant earthquakes for more than a century and stretches about 200 kilometers in front of the coast of the Mexican state of Guerrero and the port of Acapulco.
Seismometers Rescue
In the darkness of a totally calm sea 40 kilometers off the coast of the state of Guerrero, the complex rescue operations of the OBS began, key marine seismometers to learn more about the possibility of a major earthquake.
The seismometers had to be recovered more than two years ago, but the pandemic and the resulting inconveniences have delayed the rescue operation.
The likelihood that their batteries were exhausted is a cause of concern and tension not only for scientists but also for the crew members of El Puma, many of whom helped with its installation in 2019.
With sophisticated sonar equipment, seismologists, led by Mexican Victor Cruz Atienza and Japan's Yoshihiro Ito, sent signals through a marine probe to the first OBS to be recovered.
The tension was maximum and on the deck of El Puma all the members of the team participating in this journey were crowded, from its captain to the helmsmen, the ship's cook, a photographer and a reporter from the EFE agency.
The concern was more than justified because these are marine seismometers whose measurements are key to understanding the recurrent seismic activity of the Guerrero Breach.
Temor a gran sismo
Despite the latest earthquakes in September 2021, of magnitude 7 on the Richter scale and others in the last two weeks, the mega-earthquake that everyone fears has not yet occurred, especially because of its proximity to the Mexican capital.
The first OBS responded to the sound signal. Joy overflowed among scientists and sailors, particularly in Cruz Atienza and Ito.
After confirming its operability came the recovery maneuver. From the ship a command was sent to the equipment installed at the bottom of the ocean.
In the midst of the darkness of the sea, Cándido Arias, mechanical operator of El Puma, located the Japanese ingenuity floating.
Then, by means of pulleys he was brought to the deck of the ship amidst great expressions of joy.
The vessel immediately set sail to the points of the Breach where three other seismographs are installed.
From joy it went to disappointment. The next three did not issue any response. The early morning was hard due to the lack of results and it was decided to wait until daylight to try to find the devices.
This procedure was used with the sixth without achieving any results after three hours of observation under a harsh sun.
Fortunately for the important scientific purposes of the expedition and for their encouragement, the fifth and seventh OBS responded immediately.
Seismologists continue the various operations of the mission, such as reading the hydrostatic pressure on the seabed, which allow us to know the deformation over the past six years, while there is still confidence in the rescue of the three seismographs.
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