Figure 8 A specialist geophysical survey vessel. Image courtesy of Fugro. All rights reserved.
Function
Specialist vessels are used to carry out geophysical surveys of the sea bed.
Who supplies them
Suppliers include Fugro, Gardline, Hydrosurv, Horizon Geosciences, Kraken Robotics, MMT, Sulmara and XOCEAN.
Key facts
Geophysical vessels are typically about 30-70 m in length, however smaller autonomous vessels are increasingly being considered. The vessels must provide a stable platform even in unfavourable sea and weather conditions.
On manned vessels, multiple crews, including highly specialised equipment operators, are utilised and the vessel has sleeping berths and living quarters to allow the vessel to have an operational endurance of up to a month.
Crew work 12 hour shifts with rotations month by month enable a constant flow of data observation, processing and interpreting.
What’s in it
- Specialist crew
- Survey and analysis equipment