The beauty of an ultra short baseline is that you can keep track of items on the seafloor with relative ease and clarity. High-tech marine science tools are going to be an absolutely essential for any sort of expedition you undertake on the seas. In the case that you are trying to recover samples from the seafloor, or monitor and collect data about pH, currents or marine life, you will not be able to afford to go out onto the seas blind. The baseline positioning system uses doppler and sonar waves to measure the position of the boat in relation to some other physical object. Much of the time, this “physical object” will be an underwater roving vehicle (ROV). The importance of having baseline technology in these cases is that you can keep a steady eye on the technology that you are sending underwater. With the help of a baseline, or a piece of technology like acoustic releases, you can feel confident that you are not only going out, but doing so with a strong plan in mind.
You don’t need to fret before you go for a marine engineering deployment if you have great tools to help you through your trip.
When you are going out, the first thing you want to do is check protocol with your staff. It may seem self-explanatory, but going over each item and how to use them can catapult your deployment into a professional realm. If you and your crew don’t really know how to use the machinery, you could find yourself in a not-so-great position once you get out on the seas. Help yourself first by giving your crew a run-down of what to do in the case a storm hits, or the currents change unexpectedly.
Stay Alert to Changes in Weather Which May Affect Ocean Currents: How to Use an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
When you are on the roaring, unpredictable seas, having an acoustic doppler current profiler can be a way that you stay alert and keep eyes and ears underwater. One of the scariest events is to have a storm catch you off guard, thus sending your ship into a tailspin unexpectedly. In another case, you may think the seas are perfectly calm. However, the currents underwater may tell another story: the speed and power of the winds may fling your ship into a new direction unexpectedly. The doppler profiler sends out doppler waves into columns of water, and has transceivers to hear the response of each of these doppler waves. Based on the sound of the return waves, the current profiler can determine the size and velocity of particular columns of water.
When you go out to sea, getting yourself and your team as prepared as possible can be one of the ways that you increase your success rate.
Hopefully, your offshore deployment goes well, and you are able to collect all of the data that you need. However, there will sometimes be cases where the weather or climate restrictions make it impossible to have an ideal deployment. In any case, you do not want to lose out on the equipment you invested so much in. Acoustic releases, a tool for bringing your underwater tools back to the surface, are a must for securing your tools for future use.