Last June, during the scientific cruise led by the center for deep sea research at University of Bergen onboard the G.O. Sars, we deployed the observatory EMSO Mohn on Mohn Ridge at Fåvne. Within 6 hours after launching the observatory from the mother ship it was positioned less than 2 meters from target location. The world’s deepest (3050 m) and northern most ridge crest observatory is in place at the Fåvne vent field on the Mohns ridge.
The observatory was designed, and tested in collaboration with Develogic and consists of a lander and a 500 m mooring line (inductive cable), with 15 SBE 39 plus IM temperature sensors, 2 ADCP Nortek Signature 500, 5 Aanderaa Turbidity sensors, 5 CTD SBE IM 37 SMP, and a pressure sensor Aanderaa. The observatory also includes 5 Data Processing Units (DPU) responsible for transmitting data through the inductive mooring line. At the lander there is an acoustic release, and an acoustic modem to transmit data to the surface unit deployed from the boat. After deployment, the boat was able to connect to the lander and was able to download some data.
Deployment of the EMSO Mohn Observatory lander touching the sea floor at 3050 m below sea surface. Snapshot taken from ROV
Author(s): Beatrice Tomasi, Steffen Jørgensen, Thibaut Barreyre