Acoustic releases

To successfully conduct the underwater noise field measurements, SYKE is now acquiring underwater acoustic releases. The acquired underwater acoustic releases need to be able to be anchored to a bottom weight just above the bottom of the sea and released remotely using a deck unit that sends acoustic signals for activating, inactivating, locating, and commanding the release signal to the acoustic release. In addition, the underwater acoustic releases that will be acquired for the LIFE-IP Biodiversea project need to be passive, autonomous releases that can be deployed to seabed and will function at least at 150-meter depths (in the sea). Further, they need to be operable in waters down to 0 °C of temperature, have battery life for at least 6 months per deployment.

To successfully conduct the underwater noise field measurements, SYKE is now acquiring 10 pcs of underwater acoustic releases. The acquired underwater acoustic releases need to be able to be anchored to a bottom weight just above the bottom of the sea and released remotely using a deck unit that sends acoustic signals for activating, inactivating, locating, and commanding the release signal to the acoustic release. In addition, the underwater acoustic releases that will be acquired for the LIFE-IP Biodiversea project need to be passive, autonomous releases that can be deployed to seabed and will function at least at 150-meter depths (in the sea). Further, they need to be operable in waters down to 0 °C of temperature, have battery life for at least 6 months per deployment. Underwater acoustic releases are used to anchor and recover measurement devices, research instruments or other moorings to the seabed or preferred depths in the water column. A typical underwater acoustic release system has a watertight housing, and consists of a battery pack, release mechanism and associated motor for its operation, a transducer for the conversion of electrical waves into acoustic signals (and vice versa), and electronic installations required for its operation. In the LIFE-IP Biodiversea Action 8.2., the releases will be used to deploy hydrophones according to the HELCOM Guidelines for monitoring continuous noise (HELCOM, 2021).