Sonardyne USBLs Installed on Brazilian Geoscience Vessels

Brazilian geoscience services company OceanPact Geociências has chosen deep water positioning technology from Sonardyne Brasil Ltda. to support its geophysical, geotechnical and environmental research operations across the region.

Ranger 2 Ultra-Short Baseline (USBL) systems have been installed on board OceanPact’s research vessels Seward Johnson and Austral Abrolhos, both currently on hire to Brazilian oil major Petrobras. The systems will be used to precisely track the location of underwater equipment and sensor packages deployed from the ships, including seabed corers, towed sensors and data loggers. Both vessels are currently on hire to Brazilian oil major Petrobras.  

MarineTraffic shows the Austral Abrolhos is currently operating near the floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) Cidade Niteroi operating for Petrobras in the giant Marlim field located in the Campos Basin, about 110 kilometers offshore Rio de Janeiro. Seward Johnson is currently in port in Rio de Janeiro.

Sonardyne said its Ranger 2 USBL is a popular choice for conducting research at sea as operations can start as soon as a vessel arrives on location. This helps maximize ship time. It has the capability to track multiple underwater targets simultaneously to beyond 11 kilometers, works in shallow or deep water and is able to remotely configure and communicate with compatible instruments.

Raphael Melo, Survey Manager from OceanPact Geo said, “For geophysical, geotechnical and environmental research and survey operations in Brazil we rely on the highest specification and highest reliability systems. Sonardyne’s equipment has proven to be both during our previous long-term rentals. This is why we have chosen now to permanently acquire this equipment for two of our vessels.

“Having the reassurance of local technical and operational support from the Sonardyne team here in Brazil is a big advantage for us also,” he added.