Fugro has already completed 10 surveys for the programme since 2006 and acquired over 140 000 km2 of data. This latest survey will collect high-resolution, high-density multibeam echosounder and sub-bottom data to produce seamless datasets for the Norwegian mapping programme. The fieldwork will run from June to late October this year.
The survey area covers approximately 2700 km2 over Spitsbergenbanken, a large bank in the Barents Sea, in water depths ranging from 30 m to 500 m. Fugro will use state-of-the-art-sensors, advanced calibration techniques and oceanographic measurement workflows designed for acquiring vital Geo-data in this challenging environment.
Nicolien Haasbroek, Project Engineer at Mareano, said: "We are pleased to award this year's contract to Fugro. Our experience of working together has always been positive and we are looking forward to this latest collaboration."
Dr Marco Filippone, Chief Hydrographer at Fugro, said: “Over the past 14 years, we have deployed our specialist multibeam echosounder equipment and applied our International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) certified hydrographers’ expertise on several surveys for the Norwegian Hydrographic Service under this programme. It’s very rewarding to deliver continuous development in line with their objectives and expectations.”
During the survey campaign, Fugro will continue its ongoing contributions to crowdsourcing initiatives such as The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 project, the global initiative to produce a high-resolution map of the world’s ocean floor by the year 2030. To date, Fugro has donated 622 000 km2 of bathymetric data to Seabed 2030, collected during transits to and from global survey areas, and aims to boost this contribution with transit data from the MAREANO programme.