AML Moving Vessel Profiler to Augment NSCC’s Seafloor Mapping Work
A newly acquired AML Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) will help Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) develop improved methods of mapping the seafloor. With its ability to conduct real-time, vertical profiles continuously and automatically, the MVP200 is expected to improve the efficiency and quality of data collection. Looking to add ground-truthing to the process of multibeam data acquisition, AML and NSCC are working together to integrate lights and a high-resolution camera to the tow body that houses the underway profiling system’s sound velocity (SV), conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD), or multiparameter instrumentation. Ground-truthing is a critical step in validating the seafloor characteristics for interpretation of seafloor mapping multibeam data.
Seafloor Imaging Data
Ground validation surveys are costly and time-consuming. Conducted after multibeam surveys to collect information on seafloor characteristics, they are typically designed with a modest number of camera stations which provide limited spatial coverage. Development of a method that would increase both efficiency and data density of seafloor imaging data through the integration of these technologies into the MVP would benefit a wide range of ocean sector industries, such as offshore oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, subsea cable routes, marine conservation and spatial planning.
NSCC’s MVP200 will be built down the road from their waterfront campus in Canadian manufacturer AML Oceanographic’s Atlantic office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The solution is expected to be supplied in autumn 2019 and includes the MVP200, CTD instrumentation, installation, and training services.
