FUGRO OSAE has been awarded a £1.9million (2.3million euros) hydrographic survey contract by the Norwegian Hydrographic Service (NHS).
The survey is part of the MAREANO project and will encompass an area of more than 12,000sq.km in the Barents Seas.
The area is located 200km offshore the northernmost part of Norway, near the Russian border, in water depths to 300m.
As the North Atlantic current keeps the waters in this area open and navigable most of the year, the survey will be carried out in early 2012.
Data will be acquired by the survey vessel Victor Hensen using high resolution Kongsberg EM2040 multibeam echo sounding equipment.
Processing will take place onboard the vessel and at Fugro OSAE’s processing centre in Bremen, Germany.
MAREANO is Norway’s programme to fill knowledge gaps related to seabed conditions and biodiversity along the northern Norwegian coast.
The goal is to contribute to a better knowledge base for resource management, in particular for fishing and oil and gas exploitation.
The acquisition of detailed and accurate bathymetry is seen as an important first step in the collection of seafloor data.
Fugro has previously conducted surveys as a part of the MAREANO project area in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 as well as collecting high resolution bathymetry data for Norwegian electronic nautical charting (ENC).
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