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Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in which sensor stations are efficient

Seismic sensor systems and sensor station topologies, as well as corresponding cable and sensor station components, manufacturing and deployment techniques are provided. For some embodiments, networks of optical ocean bottom seismic (OBS) stations are provided, in which sensor stations are efficiently deployed in a modular fashion as series of array cable modules deployed along a multi-fiber cable.

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What is claimed is: 1. An array of ocean bottom seismic sensor stations, comprising: at least one array connection module; a plurality of array cables extending from the array connection module, each array cable including a series of array cable modules and a multi-fiber lead cable, each array cabl

What is claimed is: 1. An array of ocean bottom seismic sensor stations, comprising: at least one array connection module; a plurality of array cables extending from the array connection module, each array cable including a series of array cable modules and a multi-fiber lead cable, each array cable module including a series of seismic sensor stations suitable for deployment at or below the ocean bottom floor and connected by multi-fiber lead cables, each station housing a plurality of optical sensors, all stations within the same array cable module sharing a common sensor fiber; and for each array cable module, a module connection node to couple a different one or more fibers of the lead cable to a sensor fiber used to interrogate a series of corresponding seismic sensor stations. 2. The array of claim 1, wherein at least two sensors within a station share a common wavelength and are interrogated via time division multiplexing (TDM). 3. The array of claim 2, wherein sensors within different stations within the same array cable module have different wavelengths and are interrogated via wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). 4. The array of claim 1, wherein at least two sensors within a station have different wavelengths and are interrogated via wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). 5. The array of claim 1, wherein the at least one array connection module is suitable for making wet connections with the array cables after the array cables have been separately deployed. 6. The array of claim 1, wherein the module connection node for at least one of the array cable modules is integrated with a sensor station. 7. The array of claim 1, wherein the multi-fiber lead cable comprises a tube with multiple fibers, the tube remaining uncut except for inside the module connection nodes. 8. The array of claim 1, wherein the array connection module comprises a connection to connect at least two fibers from a lead cable to each array cable module in an array cable extending therefrom. 9. A sensing system, comprising: at least one array connection module; a plurality of array cables extending from the array connection module, each array cable including a series of array cable modules and a multi-fiber lead cable, each array cable module including one or more series of sensor stations connected by multi-fiber lead cables, each station housing a plurality of optical sensors sharing a common wavelength, the common wavelength being different for each station in a same series, all stations within the same array cable module sharing a common sensor fiber; and for each array cable module, a module connection node to couple a different one or more fibers of the lead cable to a sensor fiber used to interrogate a series of corresponding seismic sensor stations; and instrumentation coupled to the series of sensor stations and configured to interrogate sensors housed in each station using time division multiplexing (TDM) and to interrogate sensors housed in different sensor stations in each series using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). 10. The system of claim 9, wherein light at wavelengths interrogating one or more stations in a series passes through a plurality of sensors inside at least one other station. 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the stations comprise an optical fiber section for each sensor, the optical fiber sections being separated by partial reflectors that have a relatively high first reflectivity for light at the common wavelength of the corresponding station and a relatively low second reflectivity, substantially lower than the first reflectivity, for light at the common wavelengths of other stations in the same series. 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the partial reflectors comprise Bragg gratings. 13. The system of claim 9, wherein each series of sensor stations comprise seismic sensor stations, each having at least three accelerometers. 14. The system of claim 9, wherein each series of sensor stations comprise seismic sensor stations, each having one or more accelerometers and at least one additional other type of sensor. 15. The system of claim 9, wherein each series of sensor stations comprises seismic sensor stations, each having at least one of a hydrophone and a reference interferometer. 16. The system of claim 15, wherein each series of sensor stations comprises seismic sensor stations, each having at least one reference interferometer, wherein the at least one reference interferometer is positioned at an earlier stage along an interrogating optical path than the other sensors within the seismic sensor station. 17. The system of claim 9, further comprising a module connection node for each series of sensor stations. 18. The system of claim 17, further comprising: a lead cable with multiple fibers coupling the instrumentation to the one or more series of seismic sensor stations; and each module connection node couples a different one or more of the multiple fibers of the lead cable to a sensor fiber used to interrogate a series of seismic sensor stations. 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the multiple fibers are carried in a separate tube from the sensor fiber. 20. The system of claim 9, wherein: the one or more series of seismic sensor stations are located below a sea surface; and the instrumentation is located above the sea surface. 21. The system of claim 19, wherein: the one or more series of seismic sensor stations are located below a sea surface; and the instrumentation is located below the sea surface. 22. An array of seismic sensor stations, comprising: at least one array connection module; a plurality of array cables extending from the array connection module, each array cable including a series of array cable modules and a multi-fiber lead cable, each array cable module including a series of seismic sensor stations connected by multi-fiber lead cables, each station housing a plurality of optical sensors, all stations within the same array cable module sharing a common sensor fiber; and for each array cable module, a module connection node to couple a different one or more of fibers of the lead cable to a sensor fiber used to interrogate a series of corresponding seismic sensor stations. 23. The array of claim 22, wherein at least two sensors within each station share a common wavelength and are interrogated via time division multiplexing (TDM). 24. The array of claim 22, wherein at least two sensors within each station have different wavelengths and are interrogated via wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). 25. The array of claim 22, wherein the array connection module is capable of coupling to the array cables via wet connections. 26. The array of claim 22, wherein the module connection node for each array cable module is integrated with a sensor station. 27. The array of claim 22, wherein the multi-fiber lead cable comprises a tube with multiple fibers, the tube remaining uncut except for inside the module connection nodes. 28. The array of claim 26, wherein the multi-fiber lead cable comprises a tube with multiple fibers, the tube remaining uncut at each sensor station except for the sensor station in which the module connection node is integrated. 29. The array of claim 22, wherein each array cable module comprises at least 8 sensor stations.