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SEA to develop survey sonar for TOBI
20 Mar 2008
SEA in Somerset, which specialises in seabed classification and other underwater systems, has been chosen to develop a deep ocean low frequency swath survey sonar for the UK National Oceanography Centre's Towed Ocean Bottom Instrument (TOBI).
It will provide the NOC with the capability to conduct accurate hydrographic surveys over wide swaths of ocean floors, and so maintain the TOBI vehicle at the forefront of deep ocean research undertaken on behalf of scientific agencies and commercial organisations.
A deep-towed 30kHz sidescan sonar system developed by the NOC, TOBI not only maps terrains but also uses sonar pulses to study sediment layers to provide seismic profiles showing uppermost parts of a seafloor in cross section. It presently has a depth capability of 6,000m and a comparable swath range of 6km.
