18.6.16

New iceberg detection system based on sonar

Kongsberg’s "SensIs" is a system that will track drifting icebergs, it will be network of wireless sonars embedded into seabed, floating roughly at 200 meters (650 ft) below the surface. It will track ice from up to 1200 meters away, using 10-15kHz acoustics.

This is the official "I don't get it"-part. Ships have sonars, right? Make them better? It seems awfully bigger investment to cover the whole sea with sonars, than to embed ships with better sonars? Or is the sonar less efficient from near surface? Well couldn't it then be floated below?

Also, it seems, the wavelength of 10-15 kHz will be disturbing to marine life like dolphins and whales. *sigh*

It's a Norwegian company, just like a past project I blogged about, Hywind, floating windmills into the ocean. http://blog.rz.fi/2006/02/floating-windmills-into-ocean.html

Read more: http://www.kongsberg.com/en/kog/news/featurestories/monitoring%20extreme%20ice%20conditions%20in%20the%20high%20north/ and https://www.newscientist.com/article/2093340-sonar-to-listen-for-moving-icebergs-near-arctic-oil-platforms/