Shom to Improve Marine Mapping in Indian Ocean
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Shom to Improve Marine Mapping in Indian Ocean

On 15 January 2017, RV 'Beautemps-Beaupré' took off from Brest in France. It will now be on a mission until November to carry out hydrographic surveys for the Shom in the Indian Ocean, aimed at improving the charts for the safety of navigation. A crew of 21 Shom scientists are accompanying the 29 'Beautemps-Beaupré' sailors for this campaign. Two crews will relay during the deployment time.

After three weeks of transit from the port of Brest, the Beautemps-Beaupré will survey on the outskirts of Djibouti. The itinerary has been optimised to improve the knowledge of oceanic eddies in the Mediterranean and poorly known seafloors.

Subsequently, the vessel will go to the Arabian Gulf for hydrographic surveys together with several Gulf countries.

Updating Nautical Charts

The second part of the mission will take the vessel to the South Indian Ocean where she will carry out a major campaign to update the charts in Mayotte and then in southern Madagascar for access to the ports of Tuléar and Fort Dauphin.

The 80m long and 15m wide Beautemps-Beaupré, in operation since December 2003, is co-financed by the Ministry of Defence (95%) and the Ministry of Research (5%) and is therefore used 95% of the time by the Shom and 5% by Ifremer. Its main missions are to carry out hydrographic and oceanographic studies of military interest and public service.

The Beautemps-Beaupré also participates in maritime security missions while contributing to the diplomatic actions of France in the maritime areas visited.

For hydrographic and oceanographic missions, she is equipped with

  • vertical, lateral and multibeam sounders for all seabeds;
  • Sediment sounder and deep core sampler for sampling;
  • magnetometer, towed sonar, current meter, tide gauge, bathythermic cage to great depth;
  • precise satellite positioning;
  • 2 FASSMER hydrographic launches ​​for shallow water, having the same equipment.

 

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