Mediterranean Survey for Applied Acoustics’ Deep Tow Sparker
The Applied Acoustics deep-tow sparker, the DTS-500, has recently been deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, off the continental slope of Majorca, working on a project with SOCIB, the Balearic Islands coastal observing and forecasting body. Assisted by Carlos Castilla Álvarez, SOCIB’s oceanographic instrumentation technician, the DTS-500 was deployed in deep water, up to 500m, at a distance up to 1km from the SOCIB research vessel.
The researchers achieved greater than 60m penetration and with increased data resolution, up to 15cm, they called the sub-bottom profiling results excellent across the full-working depth range of the DTS-500, according to Neil MacDonald, project leader.
Multiple positioning beacons, the new Applied Acoustics’ 1100 Series, on both the tow-cable and towfish were also deployed and the researchers used the recently launched Nexus 2 USBL positioning system with similar results.
Designed for high and ultra-high resolution geophysical surveys the DTS-500 operates from a single industry standard coaxial tow cable up to 2,000m in length, has long-life durable electrodes and integral hydrophone receiver.
The complete system consists of a rack mount surface console, cable and robust towfish. It easily interfaces with standard data-loggers.
