Listening in on the Sound of Gentle Giants

Use DOT Towed Marine Depressors

Marine scientists have long known that whales and other sea mammals communicate underwater in a unique fashion. Only within the past several decades, has the instrumentation been developed to enable scientists to actually hear this conversation with enough accuracy to begin to try to decipher the “language of whales”.

When GeoSpectrum wanted to find a way to get its cutting edge hydrophone array deployed to a depth appropriate for listening in on marine mammal communications it turned to  DOT to help solve the problem.

GeoSpectrum had a towed hydrophone the "M512" appropriate for Marine Mammal Monitoring or other listening tasks. A towed dihedral wing was supplied, a standard model 460 V-Wing depressor, a small, 18” body for towing at 4 to 6 knots, which was perfect for the hydrophone system.

The V-Wing depressor pulls the entire system down into the water column. This has many benefits. First, it is the perfect methodology for deploying the hydrophone system below the waves and turbulent wave action. Secondly, the hydrophone could be deployed into clear laminar water, which is better for the sound propagation necessary for acoustic listening. Finally, the V-Wing is able to deploy the hydrophone array well away from the motor and hull noise of the towing vessel.

This is a classic example of how we at DOT help scientists and other customers find the perfect depressor to bring instrumentation to the proper depth for better performance.

For more information or help designing your next towed system, call contact Roger Race

[email protected]

Towed Hydrophone streamer.
Towed Hydrophone streamer.
M512 with V-Wing
M512 with V-Wing
M512 with V-Wing on deck and towed cable with ribbon fairing
M512 with V-Wing on deck and towed cable with ribbon fairing
Deploying V-Wing over the stern
Deploying V-Wing over the stern