Water Column Survey Contract

Norbit US has been awarded a contract from the Department of Homeland Security. The assignment was defined as a consequence of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico where several glaring technological gaps in responding to oil disasters were revealed. Norbit will use its wide-band multibeam imaging echosounder to demonstrate the capabilities of the sonar's active acoustics capability to detect oil in the water volume; the sensor is designed to fit on a multitude of different platforms, both stationary and moving. One of the issues was determining the location of subsurface plumes and making timely decisions to... (read more)

2012-04-20 10:52:42

Water Column Logging Routine

HYPACK, USA, has presented its new HYSWEEP Water Column Logging Routine. The HYSWEEP Water Column Logger is an application that collects and logs the enormous amounts of water-column data provided by modern multibeam sonar. The HYSWEEP Water Column Logger will allow users to ensure that hard targets, such as wrecks, are fully detected, and to confirm the least depth in the water when fine features such wires or masts may be missed otherwise. This data is also useful for evaluating underwater gas seeps and remotely monitoring undersea oil spills. Some key features: The Water Column Display provides constant updates allowing... (read more)

2014-05-07 03:17:16

Multibeam Water Column Imaging

Kongsberg Maritime’s new multi-beam echo sounder, EM 3002, extends the functionality of multi-beam echo sounders to cover 3D imaging of biomass and other acoustic reflectors that might be present in the water column. 160 acoustic beams are sampled digitally with a spatial resolution of 15cm for each ping, creating a digital image of a slice of the water mass under the transducer. When the ship is sailing forward, a 3D description can be obtained by combining the images from several pings. The raw display image is available as part of the operator interface. An option to the SIS operating software... (read more)

2005-01-20 12:00:00

Water Column Imaging Integration

CARIS' HIPS and SIPS is to integrate water column imaging. Version of HIPS and SIPS 7.1.1, scheduled for release in January 2012, allows differences in the water column data to be made visible for increased productivity. With water column data, users will be able to extract more qualitative sonar information to reduce the number of run lines and save time and money in survey operations. HIPS and SIPS 7.1.1 allows analysis of water column data directly in 3D and 2D, and without the need for any additional software. Water column information can be controlled through functions that have... (read more)

2011-12-23 12:05:00

Water Column Profilers for VENUS

ASL Environmental Sciences is providing an initial package of four Water Column Profiler instruments for application on the VENUS observatory project, off the West Coast of Canada. VENUS (Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea) is an ambitious project headed by the University of Victoria, BC Canada to provide three underwater cables (total length 70km) supplying power and fibre-optic communications to a number of instruments measuring a wide range of marine data. The first phase of this project into Saanich Inlet is scheduled for installation in 2004. ASL Water Column Profilers will be used to provide continuous monitoring, in real-time, of... (read more)

2004-03-03 12:00:00

Multi-Frequency Acoustic Water Column Profiler

ASL Environmental Sciences of Sidney (BC, Canada) is releasing the next generation of AWCP - the Multi-Frequency Acoustic Water Column Profiler. The MF-AWCP is capable of operating up to 4 frequencies while maintaining the same precision and low power capacity that the original AWCP had. The first unit, a two-frequency version, has been delivered to Louisiana State University and a three-frequency version has just been delivered to Oregon State University. The Acoustic Water Column Profiler can monitor the presence and abundance of zooplankton within the water column by measuring acoustic backscatter returns with ultrasonic frequencies. Other sonar targets... (read more)

2009-04-16 09:26:10

Corals and Water Column Study for Gulf Oil Spill Response

A science team on the research vessel Seward Johnson departed Fort Pierce, FL, USA, Friday for the eastern Gulf of Mexico to gather baseline data against which to measure change if oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill reaches the area. The expedition will use a submersible, a ROV and other technology to assess and record conditions in the water column and on the seafloor. The mission is funded by NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology and is led by Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Other partners include SRI... (read more)

2010-07-14 03:58:25

HIPS and SIPS 8.0 Featuring Water Column Data Supplementation

CARIS has released CARIS HIPS and SIPS 8.0. HIPS and SIPS offers a single solution for bathymetry, seafloor imagery and water column data processing. The new release includes some significant enhancements, such as the continued implementation of water column data processing allowing the data to be supplemented into the bathymetry, the redesigned calibration tools in Subset Editor and the new HIPS project database allowing for faster open times and multi-user access. Following the introduction of water column data processing in HIPS and SIPS 7.1.1, the continued development in HIPS and SIPS 8.0 allows users to supplement the bathymetry in existing... (read more)

2013-04-04 09:20:10

Acoustic Detection of Oil in the Water Column Using an Acoustic Zooplankton Fish Profiler

Laboratory experiments were carried out in July 2018 with ASL Environmental Sciences' multi-frequency Acoustic Zooplankton Fish Profiler (AZFP) at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's Ohmsett Oil Spill Response Research and Renewable Energy Facility outdoor saltwater wave tank. These experiments were conducted with the collaboration of the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with funding provided by the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). In these experiments, the AZFP was mounted to the bottom of the test tank and oil was injected at depths above the instrument with a series of different... (read more)

2019-02-04 10:17:33

Current Profiler Shallow Water

OSIL has recently supplied several SonTek Argonaut-XR (Extended Range) Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers for use in projects where shallow-water current monitoring is required. The Argonaut XR is specifically designed for mounting on the bottom of a river, channel, port or near-shore in less than 40m depth of water. It has a multi-cell current profiling feature that includes special mode which automatically adjusts one of the measurement cells for changing water-level. This means that the Argonaut-XR can adjust measurement volume height to report depth-averaged velocity over the entire water column, or over a user-programmable range (even with tide variation). The Argonaut... (read more)

2005-12-08 12:00:00