Chinese Seismic Survey Ship Off North America - OSINT
The HAI YANG SHI YOU 760 (海洋石油760 / Marine oil-760. Often shortened to HYSY 760) is a seismic survey ship operated by the China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL). In 2019 she spent several months surveying the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, Canada. The mission, part of 'GrandSPAN II', was run by GX Technology Canada Ltd, part of ION Geophysical Corporation. She pulled in to St John's Harbour, Newfoundland on May 28 2019.
Original Analysis with The Intel Lab - CLICK for HIGH-RESOLUTION. AIS data from MarineTraffic.com. The Internet cables are shown for context only.
The Seismic array can, essentially, see below the sea floor. This makes it particularly useful for natural resource surveys. To do this it creates sound waves using a compressed air array, around every 20 seconds. An array of hydrophones are towed behind the ship, typically four 8 kmlong cables parallel to eachother For this mission a single 12 km stramer was used. The timing of the echo back to the hydrophone arrays collects data from under the sea floor. This can build a picture of the different rock layers. This can identify structures where oil and gas might be trapped.
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When conducting the survey the Hai Yang Shi You 760 sails at about 4-5 knots. The noise maker is about 10 meters below the surface and the hydrophone streamer is around 15 meters deep. The survey ship also records gravity and magnetic data at the same time and has an echo-sounder for depth readings.
Diagram from https://www.nlspan.com/
Info
Flag: China. May have used Panama registration.
Year Built: 2015
IMO: 9778167
MMSI: 413305460
Specifications
Length: 84.8m
Beam: 18.4m
Draft: 7.6m
Gross tonnage: 6006 tons
Streamer (towed sonar array): Sercel/SSAS, 1 x 15,000 meters or 4 x 8,000 meters. SERCEL/ RD
Systems: ORCA, DigiSHOT
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