Canadian Coast Guard Expands Mapping Capability
Kongsberg Maritime said the Canadian Coast Guard has chosen its high resolution EM 712 multibeam echo sounders for the medium icebreakers CCGS Pierre Radisson and the CCGS Des Groseilliers.
Gathering critical hydrographic data can be a challenge in the Canadian Arctic. The innovative, retractable design of the new EM 712 echo sounder systems optimizes performance of the sounder when deployed and protects it when the vessel is breaking ice.
When deployed, the high-resolution EM 712 collects valuable navigational and scientific data from otherwise inaccessible parts of the planet and is capable of mapping a swath of the seabed up to 3,000 meters wide in 3,600 meters of water.
The CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and the CCGS Amundsen are each equipped with larger, ice protected, deep-water sounders from KONGSBERG. The light icebreaker CCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier is equipped with a retractable Kongsberg EM 2040C high resolution, shallow-water multibeam echo sounder.
Kongsberg Maritime has supplied multibeam echo sounders and electronics to the Government of Canada since the early 1980s. Canada’s first ice protected multibeam echo sounder was installed on the research vessel CCGS Amundsen in 2003 and has been in operation for almost 14 years.