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New KONGSBERG multibeam echo sounder chosen for Swedish icebreaker
SUBSEA NEWS | 1. December 2006 |
Swedish Research Council
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The Swedish icebreaker Oden to be fitted with KONGSBERG EM 122 1˚x1˚ multibeam hydrographic echo sounder and one 3˚ SBP 120 sub bottom profiler.
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Kongsberg Maritime has been awarded a NOK 20 million contract to provide an EM
122 1˚x1˚ multibeam hydrographic echo sounder and one 3˚ SBP 120 sub bottom profiler
to the University of Stockholm and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The Knut
and Alice Wallenberg foundation have financed the purchase together with the Swedish
Research Council.
Installed on the Icebreaker 'ODEN'
The system is to be installed on the Icebreaker 'ODEN', which is owned and managed
by the Swedish Maritime Administration, Norrköping, Sweden. ODEN, built by Götaverken-Arendal
in Gothenburg in 1987 is a 107m icebreaker vessel with 19 crewmembers and a top-speed
of 15 knots.
EM 122 12 kHz multibeam echo sounder
The EM 122 12 kHz multibeam echo sounder is designed to perform seabed mapping
– bathymetry and seabed imagery – to full ocean depth with an unsurpassed resolution,
coverage and accuracy. It represents a major improvement from previous models by
offering significantly larger swath width, improved data density, and greatly improved
resolution. Beam focusing is applied both during reception and transmission and
the EM 122 is equipped with a function to reduce the transmission power in order
to avoid hurting mammals if they are close by.
SBP 120 sub-bottom profiler
The receive transducer is wideband. In conjunction with a separate low frequency
transmit transducer; the EM 122 can deliver sub-bottom profiling capabilities with
a very narrow beam-width, using the SBP 120 Sub-Bottom Profiler (optional). If fitted
on an icebreaker such as ODEN, the system can be fitted with ice-windows to prevent
the transducers from being damaged during ice-breaking.
About the Icebreaker 'ODEN'
ODEN is one of seven icebreakers operated by the Swedish Maritime Administration.
Designed for escort ice-breaking and Arctic research operations, ODEN is very flexible,
carrying scientific equipment, container labs, frozen storage, containers, and deep
drilling equipment for geological purposes, etc. Her icebreaking capability is 1.9
m level ice at 3 knots (5.5 km/h), 8 metre core ice.
ODEN has regularly carried out scientific expeditions to the central Arctic Ocean
since 1991 and the new multibeam has been installed to enhance the icebreaker’s
scientific survey capability. The first multibeam mapping expeditions will take
place in 2007 and include the completely unexplored areas north of Greenland.
There is now an established cooperation agreement between National Science Foundation
(NSF), the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and the Swedish Maritime Administration
concerning the Icebreaker 'ODEN' in Antarctic for the next season, opening the passage
in to the American research center McMurdo, by the Ross Sea in Antarctic.
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