From the UNH CCOM/JHC Seminar Series 2011-12. Dale Chayes of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory presents, "Mapping the (Ice Covered) Arctic Seafloor at 20 Knots." The talk was given on Friday, February 10, 2012 at UNH's Chase Ocean Engineering Laboratory.
Seafloor Characterization and Mapping Pods (SCAMP) were developed in 1997-1998 and deployed 1998 and 1999 on the US Navy nuclear attack submarine USS HAWKBILL (SSN666) for unclassified swath mapping and subbottom profiling under the Arctic ice canopy as part of the SCICEX program, which is guided by the terms of a memorandum of agreement between the Navy, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. SCAMP consists of a Sidescan Swath Bathymetric Sonar (SSBS) and a High-Resolution Subbottom Profiler (HRSP), and a marine gravity meter that are integrated with a physically compact Data Acquisition and Quality Control System (DAQCS).The transducers for each of the sonars are mounted in purpose-built hydrodynamic pods that were temporarily fastened to special purpose threaded weldments along the submarine's keel. The weldments were installed in drydock but the pods, transducers and junction boxes were installed and can be serviced by divers at the pier. The inboard electronics for the system are packaged for submarine installation and mounted in the torpedo room.