HUGIN 3000-GC Breaks Deepwater AUV Record

The final customer acceptance test for Geoconsult's HUGIN 3000-GC was completed with a deepwater dive at a depth of 9,517 ft. This is the second ultra deep-water HUGIN 3000 produced by Kongsberg Simrad now in commercial operation. No commercial seabed mapping by an AUV has been completed at this depth before. The Geoconsult vehicle has now been in operation since August 2002, and the final customer acceptance test was successfully completed early last week with the deepwater dive at 9,517 ft. At a location, 459 ft. West of Northern Norway, at 69.2° North, 12° East, the HUGIN 3000-GC dived down to 2901 meters below sea level. The dive lasted for approximately 5-6 hours, During this record breaking dive the HUGIN 3000-GC was manoeuvred slowly down to 2901 meters, with the vehicle swimming as close as 30 metres above the seabed. During the descent, the specified functionality of the acoustic links was successfully tested. HUGIN 3000-GC includes a complete survey suite consisting of side scan sonar, sub bottom profiler as well as a multibeam echo sounder, and all systems successfully performed to full operational specification.