Autonomous and rapid deployment of a compact taut-wire mooring
Hillebrand, T.; van Heerwaarden, J.; Laan, M.; Bakker, R.; Groenewegen, R.; van Haren, H. (2011). Autonomous and rapid deployment of a compact taut-wire mooring. Deep-Sea Res., Part 1, Oceanogr. Res. Pap. 58(12): 1158-1162. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2011.09.002
In: Deep-Sea Research, Part I. Oceanographic Research Papers. Elsevier: Oxford. ISSN 0967-0637; e-ISSN 1879-0119, more
The deployment time of a taut-wire mooring is reduced to the time any transportation/hoisting device needs to put a payload at the sea surface. This is a matter of minutes rather than hours needed for deployment of long deep-ocean moorings in the regular way. It is achieved by extending the basic function of mooring parts to temporarily form a Launcher for Oceanographic Equipment and Instruments (LOEI). Full preparation of the mooring is done onshore where the instruments are prepared and programmed, and spooled onto the top-buoy together with the line. At sea, no other gear is required than a device that is able to lift a load of, say, 2000 kg, even for long deep-ocean moorings. The compact mooring method realizes considerable budget savings through deployments from non-research vessels and airborne transportation-deployment. Limitations lay in size and weight of the oceanographic instruments. We present a test-design shaped as a barbell and loaded with 940 m line and 3 current meters. Unfurling speed was maximally 2.3 m s(-1) and the descent speed amounted 1.2 m s(-1) until landing on the seabed. These speeds are comparable to those acquired during a conventional free-falling mooring deployment.
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