Deep Tow (Ocean Floor Survey System)

[Arturo]

Deep Tow is a deep ocean floor survey system that can be outfitted with sonar or cameras and towed through the water at low speeds at the end of a cable measuring several thousand meters in length. There are four systems available; a camera and sonar system in the 4,000 m class, and a camera and sonar system in the 6,000 m class.

Mapping the characteristics of the ocean basin has been difficult for several reasons. First, the oceans are not easy to travel over; second, until recent times navigation has been extremely crude, so that individual observations have been only loosely correlated with one another; and, finally, the oceans are opaque to light—that is, the deep sea flor can not be seen from the ocean surface. Modern technology has given rise to customized research vessels, satellite and electronic navigation, and sophisticated acoustic instruments that mitigate some of these problems.

Deep Tow may be a solution to these problems. She executes surveys of the deep sea, ocean floor topography, geology (hydrothermalactivity, etc.), resources, and physical oceanography, bathyal organism surveys, preliminary surveys before manned or ROV submersible dive surveys, searches for man-madeobjects, installation of observational instruments.

Her camera systems allow images of the ocean flor to be observed in real time.The observation width of the camera is about 5 m (when towing 5 m above the floor).Optional devices such as water samplers, mud samplers and plankton nets can be mounted on the system.

4K Camera Deep Tow (4KC); Maximum service depth (4,000 m). This system uses a super-HARP camera to produce high-qualityimages.

Yokosuka Deep Tow (YKDT); Maximum service depth (4,500 m). Installed on the Yokosuka in order to perform preliminary surveys for the Shinkai 6500, it can also be used for other surveys.

See Topic: “Shinkai 6500 (Submersible) 1989”

Her sonar systems execute detailed resolution of ocean floor topography, acoustic surveys of the distribution of ocean floor sediment, objects measuring several meters in size can be identified from a range of 1,500 m on either side of the ship.4K Sonar Deep Tow (4KS) system has a maximum service depth (4,000 m) and 6K Sonar Deep Tow (6KS) system has a maximum service depth (6,000 m).

Micronesia 1998, S.G.?,Scott: 295f.

Micronesia 1998, S.G.?, Scott: 295h.

Source: http://www.jamstec.go.jp/e/about/equipm ... eepto.html