|
The Projects.
|
BBV - Big Bang Velocity - the scuttling of derelict ships containing out-of-date munitions to simulate an underwater nuclear explosion.
Big Gun - What does the sound of an object travelling at high speed, hitting the ocean, sound like?
BLIP - 20 cps signal - eventually determined to be generated by the Fin Whale.
BPF - Bubble Pulse Frequency. The resonant frequency of an underwater explosion can be used to determine it's depth/size characteristics. (i.e. If you know the depth, you can calculate the size, if you know the size, you can calculate the depth.)
HOSE. - Experiment to determine whether a short horizontal array of hydrophones can be used to determine the direction to a sound source.
MILS - Missile Impact Location System. Determining the point of impact in the ocean of a test missile aimed at a specific target area where an array of hydrophones were located in precisely known locations. The missile contained a sofar bomb, which would sink to the Sound Channel Axis before detonating. Based in the arrival time of the signals at the hydrophones, the accuracy of the missile could be determined.
OBSCM - Ocean Bottom Seismograph Current Meter. Earthquakes often trigger underwater 'landslides' down the continental slopes. If these generate a mass
movement of water (a current) at the ocean floor, the size and direction of this current can be measured.
movement of water (a current) at the ocean floor, the size and direction of this current can be measured.
PILS - Portable Impact Location System. A progression from MILS into SMILS into this system, which used GPS units in the sonobuoys to accurately determine their position, thus not limiting the test areas to the fixed locations of the hydrophone arrays or the bottom transponders.
SCAVE - Sound Channel Axis Velocity Experiment. The measurement over time of the change in travel time (hence average sound velocity) of an explosion from a known location to hydrophones in different known locations.
SMILS - Sonobuoy Missile Impact Location System. The first improvement to the MILS whereby floating sonobuoys replaced the fixed hydrophone array. The precise location of the sonobuoys was determined using bottom-located transponders, which were less expensive to install than a hydrophone array. Also, the location of the impact was determined from hearing the splash of the missile in the water, rather than using a sofar bomb which might drift away from the actual landing point because of ocean currents, or (tragically) might fail to detonate. What a waste of a missile! (See PILS for a later development.)
TOTEM - Towed Temperature Array. Experimental use of thermistors to measure temperature in a slice of ocean between a start position and an end position.
Velocimeter - Continuous measurement of the speed of sound and the temperature in the ocean from the surface down to about 5,000 feet.