Technology Driving the 2012 Expedition

          Sir Franklin had the best technologies for his ship when he left for the Northwest Passage, but their modern day engineering failed them. But today there is one price of technology that is bringing up the hopes of the crew on this expedition. From the University of Victoria comes something that resembles a yellow torpedo that measures about four meters longs. It called “Mano”, Hawaiian for shark, and it is a fully autonomous submarine that has been outfitted with a fully sonar system.

The Mano, known as an AUV — Autonomous Underwater Vehicle — will travel on its own, systematically mapping the ocean floor, no matter what surface conditions plague the scientists

 

Mano is a self-guided drone that map objects down to a centimeter in size, mapping the sea floor over a fairly wide swath beneath the vehicle. Unlike other GPS and satellite receiver that are connected to the boat and depend on good weather, i.e. no wind, so clear picture, Mano dives beneath the waves securing a clear picture of the ocean floor by bouncing sounds waves. Mano can essentially drive right below bad weather and prowl over the sea floor at a predetermined altitude. It has the ability to run for 12 hours at a time, with the only downside being that you cannot get live updates on the floor, but all the information is downloaded at the end of the day.

Hydrgraphic survey of the seabed

 

            During the 20^th century, survey launches became motorized and advances in electronics set in motion a series of revolutionary changes. Measurements in the old days were taken by dropping the leadline into the water and reading the depth from markings on the line once the lead at the end of the line reached the seabed, then pulling up the line and moving to another position. Today, sound has become the new tool for measuring water depths. This technique evolved to the point where there was a continuous line of soundings being recorded. Now hydrographers can generate three-dimensional images of the seafloor by multibeam sounders, equal to land-based mapping by planes. This technology means that we can not only map the seabed, but can also produce information about its characteristics.

            The expedition has also sued LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys. This uses laser to measure water depth from an aircraft. This method shows promise for acquiring the same coverage as multibeam, but at the speed of n aircraft.

LiDAR survey System