Radial coverage pattern from the Westshore Terminal, site 2.
VENUS is making progress on several fronts for the CFI-funded Phase II construction.
Contracts for the instrument interface and the winching system for the buoy profiler in Saanich Inlet have now been awarded. OceanWorks International is responsible for providing VENUS with a highly configurable set of interfaces for up to 14 instruments both at the buoy and on the moving instrument cage. MacArtney A/S are responsible for the winching system, which will manage the safe transit of instruments from the surface to the seabed at 220 depth. The MacArtney solution is based on an existing underwater winch design.
The installation of the first CODAR radar station at Westshore Terminals (Coal Port) is on track for this summer. Several VENUS personnel spent the week of April 11-15 in Vancouver setting up temporary antennas in order to collect sample data. In addition, the antenna pattern measurements were established at the 4 proposed sites by moving a transponder on a 1 km radius around the antenna. The results from this week of testing will help us identify preferred locations for the two stations. Shown in the Figure are the radial velocity estimates from the Westshore Terminal reaching out 25km. When combined with a similar pattern seen from the end of Iona causeway, we will provide extensive coverage of the southern Strait of Georgia.
The three Seakeeper 1000 systems built by YSI/AMJ, along with instruments, have arrived at VENUS. These systems are slated for installation on three BC Ferry vessels over the course of the next 2 years. These systems will allow VENUS to serve surface properties data from across the Strait in near-real-time. The first vessel to receive a system is the Queen of Alberni, which is scheduled for dry-dock work in the fall of 2011.
Other progress of the Phase II development: the environmental sampler that will process water for genomic assays will arrive at UBC in August; a new HD webcam development is underway and should yield a working system during this summer; an in-house developed digital stills camera system will be deployed in May; a collaboration with the Ocean Technology Laboratory (UVic) should produce an AUV platform for science in late 2011.
