Magseis, a Norwegian geophysical company, has selected acoustic positioning equipment from Sonardyne to support its upcoming deepwater ocean bottom seismic survey of the Red Sea.
Sonardyne said on Monday that the S78 project will begin in July and last for nine months with the company collaborating on the project with BGP on behalf of Saudi Aramco.
The company explained that the project entails a deployment of a large network of ocean bottom recording nodes, each to be accurately positioned using Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 USBL (Ultra-Short BaseLine) and Small Seismic Transponder (SST) technologies.
To secure that the grid pattern of receivers on the seabed deployed by Magseis’ Marine Autonomous Seismic System (MASS) and cable positioning is done properly, Magseis will attach its new SSTs near the nodes at regular intervals along the cables, Sonardyne said.
As the equipment descends into the water, each SST will be tracked in real-time by using the Ranger 2 GyroUSBL permanently installed on the vessel.
Sonardyne stated that SSTs can withstand demanding operational requirements of large-scale ocean bottom seismic surveys and can even be left attached to the cables and reeled onto a drum. This reduces back deck manual handling operations.
A part of the order is Sonardyne’s Lightweight Release Transponders (LRTs) and rope canisters enabling recovery of seafloor equipment after data acquisition. Upon command, LRTs float back to the surface, enabling the attached equipment to be hauled up.
Trevor Barnes , the Sales Manager at Sonardyne, said: “Magseis have been long term users of our technology, and we’re naturally very pleased that they have chosen to increase their investment with this major order for acoustic positioning and release equipment.”