Onshore-offshore seismic experiments were carried out for the first time in northern South China Sea using large volume airgun sources at sea and seismic stations on land. The experimental results indicate that seismic signals from the new airgun array of R/V Shiyan 2 can be detected as far as 255 km. The signal effective area reaches nearly 50000 km2, which covers Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta. Compared with the old airgun array, the signal amplitude, propagation distance and effective area of the new airgun array have been increased notably, which demonstrates that the upgrade of the airgun source was successful. Comparisons with previous experimental results in other regions show that the shooting effect of the new airgun array is similar to those best airgun sources in the world. Especially, it is a new breakthrough in using the permanent seismic stations onshore to record long distance airgun signals offshore, which has great significance to the realization of the "seismic radar" concept and the 3D seismic surveys of crustal structure in coastal areas.
An airgun experiment was conducted in a reservoir,with the total volume of the airgun array being 6000 cubic inch. The energy released by one excitation was estimated to be 6.68×106 J,which corresponded to a 3.4 kg TNT explosion. A 180 km long profile composed of 100 portable short period seismometers was deployed as a receiver system of the airgun signals. Two remarkable results can be drawn from the experiment: (1) the airgun explosion is harmless to the dam and the fish,and this kind of airguns can be regarded as a green and environmental protection seismic source on land; (2) seismic wave gener-ated by this airgun source can be recorded by permanent stations with offset larger than 200 km. And the wave amplitudes recorded by nearby and remote stations are equivalent to the wave generated by 800 kg dynamite explosion. The airguns can be used as a light to illuminate the continental crustal structure of an area of about 100000 km2.
