We present seafloor pressure records from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, alongside oceanographic and geophysical models, to evaluate the spatial uniformity of bottom pressure and optimize the geometry of sensor networks for resolving offshore slow‐slip transients. Seafloor pressure records from 2011 to 2015 show that signal amplitudes are depth‐dependent, with tidally filtered and detrended root‐mean‐squares of <2 cm on the abyssal plain and >6 cm on the continental shelf. This is consistent with bottom pressure predictions from circulation models and comparable to deformation amplitudes from offshore slow slip observed in other subduction zones. We show that the oceanographic component of seafloor pressure can be reduced to ≤1‐cm root‐mean‐square by differencing against a reference record from a similar depth, under restrictions that vary with depth. Instruments at 100–250 m require depths matched within 10 m at separations of <100 km, while locations deeper than 1,400 m are broadly comparable over separations of at least 300 km. Despite the significant noise reduction from this method, no slow slip was identified in the dataset, possibly due to poor spatiotemporal instrument coverage, nonideal deployment geometry, and limited depth‐matched instruments. We use forward predictions of deformation from elastic half‐space models and hindcast pressure from circulation models to generate synthetic slow‐slip observational records and show that a range of slip scenarios produce resolvable signals under depth‐matched differencing. For future detection of offshore slow slip in Cascadia, we recommend a geometry in which instruments are deployed along isobaths to optimize corrections for oceanographic signals.

Geodetic observations in the oceans are important for understanding plate tectonics, earthquake cycles and volcanic processes. One approach to seafloor geodesy is the use of seafloor pressure gauges to sense vertical changes in the elevation of the seafloor after correcting for variations in the weight of the overlying oceans and atmosphere. A challenge of using pressure gauges is the tendency for the sensors to drift. The A-0-A method is a new approach for correcting drift. A valve is used to periodically switch, for a short time, the measured pressure from the external ocean to the inside of the instrument housing at atmospheric pressure. The internal pressure reading is compared to an accurate barometer to measure the drift which is assumed to be the same at low and high pressures. We describe a 30-months test of the A-0-A method at 900 m depth on the MARS cabled observatory in Monterey Bay using an instrument that includes two A-0-A calibrated pressure gauges and a three-component accelerometer. Prior to the calibrations, the two pressure sensors drift by 6 and 2 hPa, respectively. After the calibrations, the offsets of the corrected pressure sensors are consistent with each other to within 0.2 hPa. The drift corrected detided external pressure measurements show a 0.5 hPa/yr trend of increasing pressures during the experiment. The measurements are corrected for instrument subsidence based on the changes in tilt measured by the accelerometer, but the trend may include a component of subsidence that did not affect tilt. However, the observed trend of increasing pressure, closely matches that calculated from satellite altimetry and repeat conductivity, temperature and depth casts at a nearby location, and increasing pressures are consistent with the trend expected for the El Niño Southern Oscillation. We infer that the A-0-A drift corrections are accurate to better than one part in 105 per year. Additional long-term tests and comparisons with oceanographic observations and other methods for drift correction will be required to understand if the accuracy the A-0-A drift corrections matches the observed one part in 106 per year consistency between the two pressure sensors.

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