Laperouse Amsterdam Visit
FS Lapérouse is a French Navy survey vessel used for hydrography and oceanography on the continental shelf. Since one year, Lapérouse has been involved in surveys near La Rochelle on the west French Atlantic coast and in May she participated in a NATO mine warfare exercise on the north coast of Spain. In June she carries a survey in Pas de Calais (also known as Dover Strait) to study the movements of sand waves and update our hydrographic knowledge of this area. During this campaign, FS Lapérouse made a stop in Amsterdam.
Weighing 900 tons and 60 metres in length, the vessel has a cruise speed of eleven knots. The 35 crew members include 3 officers. In addition there are 10 survey specialists from the French Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine = SHOM). FS Lapérouse has two sister ships: Borda and Laplace.
For hydrography, the main equipment is a multibeam echo-sounder EM1002 from SIMRAD associated with a positioning system GPS - POS/MV; and a hull celerimeter Applied Micro System. There is also a sediment echo-sounder and two towfishes, a side scan-sonar MPX 4300 from Edgetech and a magnetometer. In addition, Lapérouse is able to do some oceanographic measurements using a CTD probe. For this purpose she is equipped with a winch carrying 4 000 meters of cable and she can stay in position with an auxiliary electrical engine.
Data is pre-processed on board using CARIS software for checking day by day the validity of the data. Final processing, including merging of tide and depths is made in the offices of SHOM in Brest (France).
In July 2008, visitors are invited to come onboard during the maritime festival of Brest08 between 11th and 17th of July in the harbour of Brest.
