Speaker
Description
The CTBTO’s International Monitoring System (IMS) includes 6 hydrophone based monitoring stations. During 2016 the Engineering and Development Section within the IMS Division installed the final hydroacoustic station at the Crozet Islands, France.
The weather at Crozet which is situated in the Southern Indian Ocean is such that marine operations have to be carefully planned and can only be conducted during the short Austral summer weather window, and even during this period hurricane force winds and large swells are encountered.
The requirement for 20 years of operation of the underwater system without a maintenance interaction was a key driver in the station's design and its installation. To maximise the chances of a successful installation in the harsh maritime conditions it was necessary to collect high quality bathymetry, acquire an in-depth understanding of the prevailing ocean currents, adopt robust and well qualified engineering designs, and pay close attention to risk management and the use of a state of the art cable ship as the deployment platform.
An overview of the above engineering and operational approaches will be presented, together with some video footage of the installation.
