Location and recovery of lost instruments using acoustic targets

摘要

Despite the increasingly reliable techniques and technologiesdeveloped by the oceanographic community, the all too frequent failuresof instruments and moorings to surface on command remains a problem. Theloss of both equipment and data is costly to the community. In ourexperience, the effort to locate and recover lost equipment, even inshallow water, has often been futile and costly. In this paper wedescribe a low-tech, approach that we have developed and used to recovertwo lost instruments. Our approach utilizes passive acoustic targets,side scan sonar, and divers. A large research vessel is not required,the targets can be readily manufactured from stock material, and, indeeper waters, ROVs can replace the divers