: In this thesis the focus is to design and test a pressure sensor intended for taking
measurements at the ocean-bottom to quantify small pressure perturbations in large ambient
pressure ranges. This is a situation that arises in oceanographic circumstance such as seafloor
vertical deformation or tsunami detection and characterization. The use of ocean-bottom
pressure sensors in monitoring vertical deformation in the seafloor is important for providing
information on changes in the Earth's crust including earthquakes tsunamis and slow slip
events [1]. To gather useful seafloor deformation data an ocean-bottom pressure sensor should
resolve pressure changes to within the centimeters of water [2]. For example monitoring
vertical deformation at Axial Seamount after 1998 eruption was done so in the range of tens of
centimeters at a depth of 1500 m [3]. The necessity for detection of a tsunami in particular
is important to inhabitants of coastal regions to enable early warnings that can reduce
causalities when a tsunami occurs. Large tsunami events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011
T hoku tsunamis are some of the most extreme examples in recent times. These events and the
possibility of future tsunami occurrences stress the necessity to develop improved advanced
warning systems. A tsunami is a series of waves that propagate through the ocean containing
energy capable of displacing a volume of water larger than typical ocean waves.
