Two-year optical site characterization for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE) in the Cascadia Basin
Nicolai Bailly, Jeannette Bedard, M. Böhmer, Jeff Bosma, Dirk Brussow, Jonathan Cheng, K. Clark, Beckey Croteau, M. Danninger, Fabio De Leo, Nathan Deis, Matthew Ens, Rowan Fox, C. Fruck, Andreas Gärtner, R. Gernhäuser, D. Ghuman, Darren Grant, Helen He, Felix Henningsen, K. Holzapfel, Ryan Hotte, Reyna Jenkyns, Hamish Johnson, Akanksha Katil, Claudio Kopper, C. B. Krauss, I. Kulin, K. Leismüller, Sally P. Leys, Tony T.Y. Lin, Paul Macoun, Matthew Man, Thomas McElroy, S. Meighen-Berger, Jan Michel, R. W. Moore, Mike Morley, László Papp, B. Pirenne, Tom Qiu, Mark Rankin, I. C. Rea, E. Resconi, Adrian Round, Albert Ruskey, Ryan Rutley, Christian Spannfellner, Jakub Stacho, Ross Timmerman, Meghan Tomlin, Matt Tradewell, M. Traxler, Matt Uganecz, Seann Wagner, Juan Pablo Yáñez, Yinsong Zheng
Abstract
Abstract The STRings for Absorption length in Water (STRAW) are the first in a series of pathfinders for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE), a future large-scale neutrino telescope in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean. STRAW consists of two $$150\,\mathrm {m}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>150</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> long mooring lines instrumented with optical emitters and detectors. The pathfinder is designed to measure the attenuation length of the water and perform a long-term assessment of the optical background at the future P-ONE site. After 2 years of continuous operation, measurements from STRAW show an optical attenuation length of about 28 m at $$450\,\mathrm {nm}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>450</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>nm</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . Additionally, the data allow a study of the ambient undersea background. The overall optical environment reported here is comparable to other deep-water neutrino telescopes and qualifies the site for the deployment of P-ONE.