Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility

Our users have increasingly been inquiring about ROPOS’ ability to perform multibeam surveys during their expeditions. The Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI), one of CSSF’s newest clients, also had this specific request for the first leg of their January/February 2012 expedition in the South Pacific. Using ROPOS, KORDI needed to survey three distinct study areas covering a total of approximately 5km2 in as much detail as possible.

In response to their need, CSSF designed and built a multibeam skid, seen in Figure 1, which attaches directly to ROPOS’ through-frame lift system. The multibeam skid was designed with the chief objective to bring all required navigation sensors in a clear frame of reference in order to: (1) reduce any initial offset errors between sensors to a minimum, and (2) to keep the offsets consistent should the skid need to be removed to complete other operational goals.

The skid uses the Reson Seabat 7125 ROV2 with both the 200 and 400 kHz projectors. In addition, it also houses the following required sensors and equipment:

Two RDI Navigator DVLs (1200kHz and 600kHz),

IXSEA Octans III Gyrocompass,

NEXUS MK IV Multiplexer and,

Paroscientific Depth Sensor.

With 7 expeditions, 114 days offshore and 106 dives, 2010 was a busy year for the ROPOS crew. The work this year was evenly split between ocean exploration and monitoring, and the deployment and maintenance of ocean observatories. Both types of work present their own sets of challenges and there’s nothing much more fun to the ROPOS crew than to solve these challenges. Click on "Read more..." below to find out more about each of our 2010 expeditions.

What’s next for ROPOS in 2011?

2011 looks like a busy year with just over 4 months of dive days planned in 6 separate expeditions. Amongst our returning clients such as VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada will be the University of Washington with the Visions' 11 Cruise. This expedition is in preparation for the deployment of the NE Pacific ocean observatory that is the cabled component within the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). This OOI network, which is being designed and constructed by the University of Washington, is similar to NEPTUNE Canada and our experience in cabled ocean observatories should prove very useful. More information may be found on the the UW and OOI websites.

The 2010 season began for ROPOS in February with a successful mission aboard John P. Tully to service the VENUS cabled observatory in Saanich Inlet and Georgia Strait. While we commonly operate from the Tully, this was the first time with our mid-depth system on the starboard boat deck. This configuration frees valuable space on the aft deck for observatory platform recovery, maintenance and deployment. The VENUS group had an ambitious expedition plan for a relatively short expedition spanning 5 operational days. With the LARS system onboard and the ROPOS through-frame lift capability, we completed 12 dives (over 60 hours in the water), 6 platform recoveries, 5 platform deployments, as well as the deployment of a 6 km extension cable using ROCLS.

 

We are now located at the Marine Technology Center (MTC) in Sidney, B.C. For those of you who are familiar with our current office in the hangar at the Institute of Ocean Sciences, MTC is located directly across the street.

Our new address (Google maps):
110-9865 West Saanich Rd.
North Saanich, B.C., V8L 5Y8

Please note that our phone numbers have also changed:

Phone: 250-655-5096
Fax: 250-655-5097

Our 2010 operational season has officially started with a 6 day expedition onboard the CCGS John P. Tully to support the VENUS observatory. While we commonly operate from the John P. Tully this was our first time with our mid-depth system on the starboard boat deck. This configuration frees the valuable space on the aft deck for observatory platform recovery, maintenance and deployment.

The VENUS group had an ambitious expedition plan for a relatively short expedition spanning 5 operational days. With the LARS system onboard and the ROPOS through-frame lift capability, we completed 12 dives (over 60 hours in the water), 6 platform recoveries, 5 platform deployments, as well as the deployment of a 6 km extension cable using ROCLS.

To find out more about the VENUS observatory, please visit venus.uvic.ca.

On July 3rd 2009 the ROPOS ROV and the ROCLS Cable Laying system were mobilized aboard R.V. Atlantis to participate in the installation of the Neptune Canada trawl resistant frames, nodes, instrument platforms and instruments. Working in conjunction with the Alcatel-Lucent cableship Lodbrog, ROPOS carried out pre-deployment survey and monitoring of touchdown as the nodes and trawl resistant frames were lowered to the seabed. After node deployment, ROPOS connected test equipment carried on the ROV to verify that the nodes were functioning correctly.

Between node deployments, ROPOS installed instrument platforms and instruments and commenced the laying of over 60 kilometers of interconnecting cables using the ROCLS system.

Photographs and updates on the installation of the NEPTUNE Canada infrastructure can be found at the NEPTUNE Canada Installation Blog. Videos can be found via the ROPOS YouTube Channel.  A CBC National News story regarding this summers exploits can be found here.

From February 10th to 17th, ROPOS was on-board the CCGS John P. Tully to assist the VENUS observatory team perform planned maintenance work and to help CHONe (Canadian Healthy Oceans Network) scientists investigate the exceptional marine biodiversity found in Saanich Inlet.

During the VENUS leg, ROPOS completed 10 dives in 6 days performing over 9 instrument deployments and recoveries. A notable achievement was the installation of a Seismic Liquefaction In-situ Piezometer (SLIP) to monitor the Fraser Delta slope. While the SLIP was deployed directly from the ship, ROPOS was tasked with its connection to a VENUS instrument platform (VIP) located approximately 1 kilometer away. Using a vehicle-mounted cable reel, the electro-optical cable was successfully laid directly on the seafloor as ROPOS navigated towards the VIP¹.