Sonardyne International has supplied its deep water acoustic tracking technology, Ranger 2, for the German research vessel the Maria S. Merian.
Delivered through Sonardyne’s in-country agent, Scholz Ingenieur Büro GmbH, the system was chosen as a replacement for the vessel’s existing third-party Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) acoustic equipment.
Operated by the German Research Vessels Control Station at the Institute of Geology, University of Hamburg, the Maria S. Merian is equipped to conduct sea bottom, water column and atmospheric observations in the Mediterranean, North Atlantic and the subpolar Norwegian Sea.
As part of the upgrade, the Maria S. Merian has been fitted with Sonardyne’s GyroUSBL instrument which incorporates a USBL transceiver and high-grade inertial navigation sensor in the unit.
During science missions, it will be deployed and recovered using a Sonardyne deployment machine and used to track Wideband Sub-Mini 6+ transponders attached to scientific equipment in the water, the company explained.
Paul Griffiths, sales manager for Sonardyne in the UK said, “We’re delighted that the scientists and crew of the Maria S. Merian have joined the other international research institutes who trust our technology to support their important work.”