From: Hydro International

On 25 September 2013, Fugro EMU collected the last of over 15 billion bathymetric soundings as part of its involvement in the 2011-2013 Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) Civil Hydrography Programme. Working in UK coastal waters between the 2-metre and 40-metre contours, Fugro EMU surveyed over 3,000 km2 of seabed off the English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish coastlines utilising a fleet of eight dedicated survey vessels.
 

 

Fugro EMU has acquired the very latest Reson and Kongsberg dual-head multibeam echosounders and associated positioning and orientation systems and deployed them to ensure that the strict IHO Order 1a standards were met. Working in partnership with Fugro’s own dedicated training academy, Fugro EMU has also been able to supply FIG/IHO Cat A accredited hydrographic surveyors for the project.

 

Many of the areas covered by Fugro EMU were last surveyed by lead line in the 19th century and several of them, particularly in Scottish coastal waters, have never been surveyed before. This has resulted in the first collection of high-resolution seabed data, including the discovery of several previously uncharted wrecks and the re-classification of water depths over some existing wrecks.

 

Although data presented on Admiralty charts are scaled down to a level which provides sufficient information for the safe navigation of vessels at sea, full density data sets are publicly available via both the MCA and the UKHO, whose various products are increasingly being used across Government to support marine spatial planning and decision-making in the maritime domain.

 

Fugro EMU is looking forward to continued work on similar projects utilising the latest equipment which, together with the expertise of its hydrographers, has proved successful on this demanding and technically challenging survey contract for the MCA.