EXPERIENCE IN RESEARCHING THE BOTTOM AND BOTTOM SEDIMENTS OF THE ARCTIC SEAS BY SONAR SYSTEMS WITH CHIRP SOUNDING SIGNALS

• Main Authors: Krivtsov, A. P., Smolyaninov, I. V., Kaevitser, V. I., Elbakidze, A. V.
• Format: Text
• Language: Russian
• Published: Southern Federal University 2017
• Subjects: Sonar systems; multibeam echosounder; interferometric side scan sonar; sea floor bathymetry; sub bottom profiling; digital signal processing; pockmarks; Arctic; Barents Sea; Kotel; Global warming; Northern Sea Route
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.23683/2311-3103-2017-8-6-16; https://hub.sfedu.ru/repository/material/800817377/?direct_link=true

To solve the problems of informatization of Arctic regions, development of hydrocarbon fields, provision of navigation along the Northern Sea Route, and protection of state borders, one of the important directions is the creation of domestic means of illuminating the underwater situation, mapping the bottom and bottom sediments. The manifestations of global warming in the Arctic, in recent years, have led to a significant improvement in the ice situation and the possibility of carrying out hydrographic work with significantly lower costs. It required the creation of domestic sonar systems for the equipment of research vessels. The article reviews the experience of development in the Kotel"nikov FIRE RAS of sonar systems possessing high power and noise immunity when using complex probing signals (linear frequency modulation) and optimal methods for processing echoes. The developed sonar system AGPS-200 has been successfully used for studying and monitoring the seabed in the implementation of the “Polarnet” project in the difficult ice conditions of the Arctic. Based on the obtained experience, an experimental device of the small-size sonar system AGPS-300 "Kedr" has been developed and created to solve the task. The system combines an interferometric and amplitude sonar, a high-frequency echo sounder and a low-frequency profiler with a single control driver, one recording computer. In this case, the probing pulses of all systems are radiated simultaneously, which reduces the effect of the instruments on each other, providing electrical and acoustic compatibility. The examples of practical application of the small-sized multifunctional sonar system of the new generation AGKPS 300 "Kedr" on three-dimensional acoustic mapping of the seabed in the Barents Sea at depths of 200-300 meters are given. An area with a large number of gas outlets marked with pockmarks has been discovered. A scientific interpretation of these manifestations from the point of view of the geological and tectonic structure of the bottom of the given area has been carried out. The prospectivity of using the developed sonar system and software and hardware to ensure scientific and engineering research of the bottom on the shelf, including the Arctic seas, have been confirmed.