Two-Year Optical Site Characterization for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment P-ONE in the Cascadia Basin
astro-ph.IM
/ Authors
Nicolai Bailly, Jeannette Bedard, Michael Böhmer, Jeff Bosma, Dirk Brussow, Jonathan Cheng, Ken Clark, Beckey Croteau, Matthias Danninger, Fabio De Leo
and 47 more authors
Nathan Deis, Matthew Ens, Rowan Fox, Christian Fruck, Andreas Gärtner, Roman Gernhäuser, Dilraj Ghuman, Darren Grant, Helen He, Felix Henningsen, Kilian Holzapfel, Ryan Hotte, Reyna Jenkyns, Hamish Johnson, Akanksha Katil, Claudio Kopper, Carsten B. Krauss, Ian Kulin, Klaus Leismüller, Sally Leys, Tony Lin, Paul Macoun, Matthew Man
/ 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 m 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 two years of continuous operation, measurements from STRAW show an optical attenuation length of about 28 metres at 450 nm. 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.