Monday 15 August 2016

Efforts to understand the unique environmental conditions in the Minas Passage of the Bay of Fundy are moving forward.

After a 27-day sea trial, a team comprised of staff at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) working in concert with crew on the Dominion Victory have successfully recovered an underwater monitoring platform, known asFAST-1.

“To explore the energy potential in the Bay of Fundy responsibly, we have to understand it,” said FORCE general manager Tony Wright. “We’re building a series of subsea instrument platforms that will give us a clearer picture of what’s happening at the FORCE test site.”

The platform was retrieved in mid-July, and analysis of sensor data is now underway. Reliable site data is critical to all aspects of in-stream tidal energy development, including both turbine design and understanding any effects on the marine ecosystem.

The Fundy Advanced Sensor Technology (FAST) program encompasses three separate underwater platforms, onshore radar, meteorological instruments, and a tide gauge. Headlining the program is FAST-1. At 4.5-tonnes and 4-metres in length, this platform is designed for frequent deployment and recovery to enable instrument testing and monitoring.

More - http://fundyforce.ca/fast-1-platform-successfully-...