Xeos Newsletter September 2022
Xeos's September 2022 newsletter features an incredible story of how our Apollo-Mono beacon aided in the recovery of an OBS system in the Azores! Also scientists at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography have been testing our brand new Ares turbidity sensors in the Bay of Fundy.
OBS Tracked & Recovered After 5 Months at Sea
In November 2021, the National Facility for Seismic Imaging (NFSI) out of Dalhousie University deployed an array of 12 Aquarius ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) over the Laurentian Fan near the Grand Banks. The sensors were deployed with the goal of recording important seismic data until the summer of 2022. The OBSs were equipped with our Apollo-Mono Iridium GPS beacons and XMB-11K VHF beacons.
A few weeks later, we received alarm messages from our Apollo-monos that there was an accidental release and 2 OBS units were now floating on the surface. Due to the distance offshore and adverse weather conditions typically seen in the North Atlantic in late fall and winter, NFSI determined it wasn't feasible to send a ship to recover the instruments at the time. A third OBS accidentally surfaced approximately 3 weeks later, just before Christmas.
The OBSs were tracked across the Atlantic Ocean using the Apollo-Monos and after 5 months, one of the units started drifting towards the Azores Islands. NSFI contacted a colleague in the Azores who recruited a local fisherman to successfully retrieve the nearby OBS system!
The recovery of the OBS unit was crucial, so the manufacturer could determine the reason behind the accidental release of their device. NSFI plans to deploy 120 of these systems so the ability to resolve the issue is of the utmost importance.
The OBSs were tracked using our XeosOnline web application. Using XeosOnline users can track devices on the map, view incoming messages from their beacons, and send commands to their devices to change parameters.
Xeos is thrilled to be able to aid in the recovery and display our world class beacons in action. Click the link below for NFSI's more in depth description and photos of the recovery. NFSI Blog Post
New Ares Turbidity Sensors part of Innovative Solutions Canada Project with DFO
Scientists for the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia recently deployed a suite of new Ares Turbidity Sensors in a number of locations around the Bay of Fundy as part of a field test and characterization study. The study is part of an Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) project to commercialize and characterize the innovative new sensors.
The BIO scientists deployed the Ares Turbidity sensors in sets of 5 (mounted at different depths) on the Bay of Fundy tidal flats at Economy, Portapique and Kingsport Nova Scotia. The extreme tides in the Bay of Fundy offer convenient, if not temporary, access to the tidal flats, which is ideal for deploying, cleaning and recovering normally submerged sensors and equipment. The sensors were calibrated using local samples and deployed in late July along with supporting sensors for fully characterizing the physical oceanographic environment and providing a robust foundation for comparison and characterization.
All the equipment will be retrieved in the Fall for data processing and analysis. Stay tuned for a future white paper detailing the results of the study!
For the full copy of the newsletter click the link below!