Task Overview
Contacts:
- Jim Thomson, Applied Physics Lab
- Brian Polagye, Mechanical Engineering
- Chris Bassett, Mechanical Engineering
- Kristen Thyng, Mechanical Engineering
- James Joslin, Mechanical Engineering
- Rob Cavagnaro, Mechanical Engineering
- Michael Palodichuk, Mechanical Engineering
- Adam Niblick, Mechanical Engineering
- Joe Talbert, Applied Physics Lab
Industry Challenge: Pilot testing for tidal turbine developers has been costly and time-consuming, often due to the burdens imposed by regulatory monitoring. This has partly resulted from gaps in knowledge and understanding between developers and regulatory agencies and has contributed to delays, unrealistic expectations on both sides, and costly measurements that impair the economics of demonstration and commercial systems. Conversations between UW, device and site developers, and regulatory agencies indicate that this is a global concern and is not locale-specific.
Approach: The Center proposes to develop a modular and scalable instrumentation package for cost-effective environmental and performance monitoring for in-stream turbines. This package will be developed through in-water testing and will be aligned with international standards. The relatively deep water and high velocities at tidal energy sites represent a distinct departure from traditional oceanography and will require new approaches and new thinking. The primary goal is to address environmental and performance concerns in a cost-effective manner that meets the needs of developers, regulators, and researchers. The Center will test instrumentation options for:
- Measuring device performance in sheared, turbulent flows.
- Quantifying the structure of flow around turbines including turbulence, shear, and device wake.
- Measuring noise, both ambient and device generated.
- Monitoring of fish and marine mammals.
A key goal during the first few years will be to establish guidelines for efficient measurement protocols which package
multiple, complimentary diagnostics into a single ship-mounted or bottom-mounted platform.
This task will engage the technical and creative capabilities of the Applied Physics Laboratory, Oceanography, and
Mechanical Engineering. APL's involvement brings to bear significant equipment and measurement capabilities (e.g. ADCP
and ADV), as well as the potential to exploit overlap with other concurrent projects. An example of this is airborne
infrared measurements to characterize estuarine dynamics. Center personnel will be involved in the creation of standards
for device testing. Development of the tidal energy instrumentation package at UW will leverage the experience of the
Center's industrial partners and be trialed in conjunction with industry-led device testing in the Puget Sound.
The guiding principle is to allow site and device developers to build-out wherever they find compelling reasons to
do so. This will allow developers to test devices and collect high quality data where there is long-term potential for
commercial facilities.
Outcomes and Impacts:
- Research: Evaluation of physical and biological characteristics of sites with naturally occurring high speed flows.
- Industry: Guidelines for cost-effective monitoring of operations for tidal turbines; Guidance on siting in turbulent flows with respect to performance and fatigue life.
- Regulatory: Guidance for statutory monitoring programs.
Instrumentation Development
The Center and its partners are involved in the testing and development of instrumentation packages for site and device characterization.
Instrumentation Tripod
NNMREC has integrated a number of instruments into a single package to collect data that serve to characterize the physical and biological environment at
tidal energy sites. Instruments are mounted to a Sea Spider fiberglass tripod, which has been ballasted with over 600 pounds of lead. This has been sufficient
to hold the tripod in place in Admiralty Inlet, WA, where it is being trialed as part of Snohomish PUD's tidal energy project. The tripod is deployed
using a weight bearing acoustic release and recovered by one of two redundant acoustic releases connected to floats and retrieval lines.
In addition to data collection
the tripod has also led to productive collaborations with WA Dept. of Ecology and NOAA Fisheries, whereby their instrumentation has been deployed on the tripod
by NNMREC.
The current tripod instrumentation consists of:
- Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler - measurements of velocity
- CTDO - measurements of conductivity, temperature, depth, and dissolved oxygen (provided by WA Dept. of Ecology)
- Recording hydrophone - measurements of underwater noise
- Fish tag receiver
- Chelonia TPOD and CPOD - measurements of cetacean echolocation (primarily porpoise and dolphin)
- Sediment trap
The first generation tripod was deployed in Admiralty Inlet, WA from April, 2009 until August 2010. During this time there have been several useful lessons learned:
- Individual deployments should not exceed 3 months, due to corrosion concerns and fouling of instrumentation.
- Single batch 316 stainless steel fastners are preferred. The use of nylock nuts in lieu of a nut and lock washer is not recommended. During the initial deployment, approximately 50% of nylock hardware coroded to the point of near-failure after a single month in the water. During instrumentation turn-around, changing out any fastner which is beginning to develop corrosion is recommended.
- Instrumentation should be secured redundantly (e.g., bolts + seine twine) - mounting points will fail occasionally in high current environments during extended deployments.
The second generation tripods have been deployed in Admiralty Inlet, WA since August 2010 and have been performing well. Refinements to the second generation tripods include>
- Reinforced fiberglass frame capable of support additional ballast (800 lbs total);
- Transmit and receive acoustic releases; and
- Modular instrumentation mounts.
Infrared Detection of Marine Mammals
As part of DOE-funded project to characterize the physical and biological environment in Admiralty Inlet, WA, the efficacy
of a land-based infrared (IR) camera to detect marine mammals is being tested. The primary advantage of an IR camera
over a conventional camera is the potential ability to detect marine mammals on the surface during the night. Because water
vapor is opaque to both the visual and infrared spectrum, the IR camera will not perform better than a conventional camera
during periods of fog or rain. Additionally, for sea states greater than 3 of the Beaufort scale, wave crests create
many false detections.
An initial test of the IR camera was conducted at Lime Kiln State Park in cooperation with the Whale Museum and
Beam Reach. The videos below demonstrate the effectiveness of the IR cameras under ideal conditions
and are visually striking. Both were obtained during the middle of the night when a conventional camera would be ineffective.
Publications:
- Thesis Defense - Joe Graber
- Land-based Infrared Imagery for Marine Mammal Detection - Joe Graber thesis
- Graber, J., Thomson, J., Polagye, B., and Jessup, A. Land-based infrared imagery for marine mammal detection, SPIE Photonics + Optics, San Diego, CA August 20-25, 2011.
Resource Characterization
UW-NNMREC has developed a characterization toolbox to interpret and analyze Doppler profiler data. This toolbox may be used to evaluate resource characteristics and generate a preliminary estimate for turbine performance given design specifications and a particular site.
- Toolbox (.zip archive 66 kB) (requires Matlab and Excel)
- User Guide (.pdf 256 kB)
- Sample ADCP file (.mat 300 MB)
Release Notes:
- November 20, 2011 - Initial public release
Performance between a fixed and passive/active yaw turbine at a site in Admiralty Inlet
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
UW-NNMREC maintains an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver at the historic lighthouse on Admiralty Head (Fort Casey State Park). AIS transponders are required on all vessels over 300 tons gross weight and passenger vessels, but a number of recreational and research vessels carry transponders, as well. These are principally used by the US Coast Guard for real-time collision avoidance and traffic control, but the signals can be logged and used to provide context for other measurements (e.g., background noise). AIS operates on VHF side bands and the receiver has a line of sight effective range of greater than 30 miles. While vessels are underway, they broadcast their MMSI number, location, speed, and heading. They also periodically transmit description information (e.g., flag, draft, length).
AIS ship tracks from northern Admiralty Inlet (June 2010).
Blue tracks are the passenger ferry.
The red triangle is the proposed locations for Snohomish Public Utility District's tidal energy pilot
project.
A receiver and logging system is relatively inexpensive and easy to assemble. The entire system consists of:
- AIS receiver (class A and B signals, e.g., Comar AIS-2-USB ~$400)
- AIS antenna (e.g., Shakespeare 5250-AIS ~$100)
- Low-cost desk top computer with upgraded hard disk storage (~$600)
- Misc. cables (e.g., USB, ethernet ~$30)
The receiver logs approximately 5 MB of ship traffic each day. To access the UW-NNMREC AIS archive for Admiralty Inlet, please contact Chris Bassett.
Tidal Micropower for Instrumentation
Stand-alone oceanographic measurements at tidal energy sites are typically constrained by either the power available from battery systems or storage space for recorded data. As a practical matter, the storage constraint also comes back to available power since battery constraints drive the use of low-power, limited storage media (e.g., compact flash cards). UW-NNMREC has been developing a compact (<1 m2 swept area) vertical axis tidal turbine intended to supply 10-20 W continuously through a rechargeable battery bank. The micropower turbine could be integrated with a Sea Spider package, as shown conceptually in the figure below.
Figure - Conceptual Sea Spider with integrated energy harvesting
This concept has been advanced by graduate student research and an undergraudate Capstone design team. Rotor design and characterization has been completed and emphasis is now turning towards the implementation of the power train and control system.
Publications:
- Josh Anderson, Bronwny Hughes, Celestine Johnson, Nick Stelzenmuller, Leonardo Suntanto, and Brett Taylor, Design and Manufacture of a Cross-Flow Helical Tidal Turbine, Undegraduate Capstone Project Report, 2011
Site Data
Data and analysis generated by these activities may be found on task subpages accessed through navigational panel. Due to intellectual property considerations, the release of some project data may require consultation with Center partners.
Admiralty Inlet, Washington
The goal of this project is presently to collect baseline data required for permitting of a pilot scale tidal energy array in Admiralty Inlet.
- Location: Puget Sound, Washington Map of Project Area
- Site Developer: Snohomish Public Utility District
- Device Developer: Open Hydro
- Dates: April 2009 - Present
Surveys conducted to date - click on links to view full survey information and data
April 2009 (Shipboard)
This was the initial survey of Admiralty Inlet aboard the R/V Jack Robertson. Many pieces of equipment were evaluated and the Sea Spider
was deployed for two days as a test deployment, recovered successfully, and re-redeployed for extended measurements.
Readying Sea Spider for initial deployment
- Duration: April 6-9, 2009
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, background noise, water quality, hydroacoustics, ROV video
- Summary Report: Forthcoming
- Cruise Pictures (1):
Picasa Web Album
- Cruise Pictures (2):
Picasa Web Album
- Cruise Pictures (3):
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | April 6-9, 2009 (28 tracks) .zip archive (44 MB)
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity |
| Hydroacoustics | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Hydroacoustic measurements for fish and marine mammal abundance |
| Water Quality Casts |
April 7, 2009 (2 casts) .mat file (1.3 MB) File header (.txt) 
|
Quantities measured:
|
| Background Noise |
Recording 1: ambient noise .wav (8 MB) Recording 2: shipping traffic .wav (8 MB) Contact Chris Bassett for access to raw data |
Study of background noise levels at various locations in Admiralty Inlet |
| ROV Video |
|
Video collected during ROV survey at two sites of different depths within the survey area.
|
| Surface Conditions |
Conditions on the surface in Admiralty Inlet during the cruise.
|
May 2009 (Shipboard)
This survey was primarily structured to recover the Sea Spider, add new instrumentation, and redeploy it within the project area.
During this time, shipboard ADCP measurements and water quality samples were also obtained.
- Duration: May 19-20, 2009
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity and water quality
- Summary Report: Forthcoming
- Cruise Pictures (1):
Picasa Web Album
- Cruise Pictures (2):
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | May 19-20, 2009 (16 tracks) .zip archive (22 MB)
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity |
| Water Quality Casts |
May 19, 2009 (2 casts) .mat file (0.8 MB) File header (.txt) 
|
Quantities measured:
|
August 2009 (Shipboard)
This survey repeated most of the measurements made during April, recovered the Sea Spider, further
upgraded the instrumentation package, and redeployed the package.
- Duration: August 3-5, 2009
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water quality, background noise, ROV video
- Summary Report: Forthcoming
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | August 3-5, 2009 (30 tracks) .zip archive (34 MB)
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity |
| Water Quality Casts |
August 3-5, 2009 (4 casts) .mat file (1.6 MB) File header (.txt) 
|
Quantities measured:
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Study of background noise levels at various locations in Admiralty Inlet |
| ROV Survey |
Video collected during ROV survey in approximated 60m of water.
|
November 2009 (Shipboard)
This survey repeated the standard suite of measurements, recovered the Sea Spider, serviced instrumentation,
and redeployed the package. A drifting spar buoy was also deployed to assist in measurements of ambient noise.
- Duration: November 10-12, 2009
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water quality, background noise
- Summary Report (.pdf 200 kB)
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity |
| Water Quality Casts |
November 10-11, 2009 (9 casts) .mat file (3.7 MB) File header (.txt) 
|
Quantities measured over entire water column:
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Study of background noise levels at various locations in Admiralty Inlet |
February 2010 (Shipboard)
This survey repeated the standard suite of measurements, recovered the Sea Spider, serviced instrumentation,
and redeployed the package. A drifting spar buoy was also deployed to assist in measurements of ambient noise. Due to corrosion on the titanium
arms on the tripod releases, instrumentation package was delayed by approximated 12 hours while the currents worked the recovery line shackles free of the
release arms.
- Duration: February 9-11, 2010
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water quality, background noise
- Summary Report (.pdf 200 kB)
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity |
| Water Quality Casts |
February 9, 2010 (2 casts) .mat file (400 kB) File header (.txt) 
|
Quantities measured over entire water column:
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Study of background noise levels at various locations in Admiralty Inlet |
May 2010 (Shipboard)
This survey involved minimal shipboard operations, the primary purpose being the retrieval and redeployment of
the sea spider instrumentation package. A number of racetrack velocity surveys were conducted to further resolve ebb amplitude variations.
A larger tripod to characterize turbulence was also deployed off Marrowstone Island.
- Duration: May 3-6, 2010
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity
- Summary Report (.pdf 200 kB)
- Cruise Pictures: Forthcoming
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity |
August 2010 (Shipboard)
The cruise was dedicated to the retrieval of the existing Sea Spider and deployment of two 2nd generation
Sea Spiders with upgraded instrumentation and infrastructure.
- Duration: August 17-18, 2010
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report (.pdf 150 kB)
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
November 2010 (Shipboard)
The cruise was dedicated to the retrieval and redeployment of the two Sea Spiders in northern Admiralty Inlet.
- Duration: November 8-10, 2010
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report (.pdf 150 kB)
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
- Cruise Videos
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Water Quality Casts |
November 8, 2010 (1 cast) .mat file (0.2 MB) File header (.txt) 
|
Quantities measured:
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to raw data | Test of "hairy rope" faring to reduce flow noise |
February 2011 (Shipboard)
During this cruise, two Sea Spiders were recovered and redeployed in northern Admiralty Inlet. Additionally,
a third Sea Spider was deployed for a shorter duration at same location, a turbulence moorig was deployed at Marrowstone Island, and
acoustic surveys were conducting in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
- Duration: February 10-13,21 2011
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report (.pdf 1.1 MB)
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Acoustic Survey | Contact Chris Bassett for access to raw data | Study of background noise levels in general project area |
May 2011 (Shipboard)
During this cruise, two Sea Spiders were recovered and redeployed in northern Admiralty Inlet. Additionally, four instrumentation packages
were deployed in northern Admiralty Inlet to evaluate the effectiveness with which various hydroacoustic sonars detect, classify, and identify fish species.
During this cruise, velocity surveys were conducted to better resolve spatial gradients in the project area and acoustic surveys were undertaken
in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
- Duration: May 8-11 2011
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report (.pdf 0.8 MB)
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity Survey | Contact Michael Palodichuk for access to raw data | Figure 8 pattern passing over Doppler profilers on Sea Spiders. Subsequent analysis concluded that this is not an effective survey strategy due to the presence of turbulence in survey tracks. |
| Acoustic Survey | Contact Chris Bassett for access to raw data | Study of background noise levels in general project area |
June 2011 (Shipboard)
During this cruise, the four instrumentation packages used to evaluate the effectiveness with which various hydroacoustic
sonars detect, classify, and identify fish species were recovered. Additionally, velocity surveys were conducted to better resolve spatial gradients in the project area and acoustic surveys were undertaken
in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
- Duration: June 8-9 2011
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report (.pdf 0.8 MB)
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity Survey | Contact Michael Palodichuk for access to raw data | Sequential station-keeping over Doppler profilers on Sea Spiders |
| Acoustic Survey | Contact Chris Bassett for access to raw data | Study of background noise levels in general project area |
August 2011 (Shipboard)
During this survey, three Sea Spiders (SS #02-#04) were recovered and SS #02 and SS #03 were
redeployed at alternative turbine sites, further from a communications cable. Additionally, a sound propagation test
was conducted to evaluate the directivity of sound propagation at this location. This will help to establish
the context for measurements of post-installation turbine noise.
- Duration: August 9-11 2011
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report: Forthcoming
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity Survey | Contact Michael Palodichuk for access to raw data | Sequential station-keeping over Doppler profilers on Sea Spiders |
| Acoustic Survey | Contact Chris Bassett for access to raw data | Study of sound propagation in the vicinity of proposed turbines |
November 2011 (Shipboard)
During this survey, two Sea Spiders were recovered and one was redeployed to continue long
term data collection in the project area. A sound velocity profiler was also benchmarked against a Seabird SBE 37 CTD.
- Duration: November 14-15 2011
- Survey Type: Shipboard survey
- Survey Platform: R/V Jack Robertson (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Summary Report: forthcoming
- Cruise Pictures:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Sound Profiles |
SVP data (.mat 50 kB)
SBE37 data (.mat 4kB) 
|
Sound speed profiler casts with a Valeport MiniSVP and SeaBird SBE37 |
April 2009 (Test Deployment)
Sea Spider outfitted with ADCP, recording hydrophone, and CTD sensor
- Duration: April 6-8, 2009
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (test deployment)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, background noise, water depth, temperature
- Sea Spider Construction and Testing:
Picasa Web Album
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data (.mat 8.4 MB)
Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Recordings of background noise at Sea Spider deployment depth |
| Pressure and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 40 kB)
Header information |
Time series of water pressure and temperature |
April - May 2009 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: April 9-May 18, 2009
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (40 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data (.mat 8.6 MB)
Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | No data | Hydrophone not enabled during deployment |
| Pressure, Salinity, and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 80 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
| Pressure and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 100 kB)
Header information |
Time series of water pressure and temperature |
May - August 2009 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: May 20-August 3, 2009
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (75 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data (.zip 271 MB)
ADCP data (velocity only) (.mat 200 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Pressure, Salinity, and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 560 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
| Pressure and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 100 kB)
Header information |
Time series of water pressure and temperature |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Chelonia TPod recording porpoise echolocation events |
| Fish Tags | Detection data (.txt 3 kB) | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
August - November 2009 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: August 5-November 11, 2009
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (98 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data (.mat 87 MB)
Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Pressure, Salinity, and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 600 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Logger data (.mat 637 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Chelonia CPod (digital) and TPod (analog) recording porpoise echolocation events |
| Fish Tags | Detection data (.txt 1 kB) | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
November - February 2010 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: November 12, 2009 - February 9, 2010
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (89 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data (.zip 189 MB)
ADCP data (velocity only) (.mat 132 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data
Orca vocalization at 1450 on 1/2/10 (.wav format, vocalization at end of clip) 
|
Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Pressure, Salinity, and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 400 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Logger data (.mat 466 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Chelonia CPOD (digital) and TPOD (analog) recording porpoise echolocation events |
| Fish Tags | No detections during this deployment | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
February - May 2010 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: February 12, 2010 - May 4, 2010
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (82 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data (.zip 124 MB)
ADCP data (velocity only) (.mat 104 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Pressure, Salinity, and Temperature | Logger data (.mat 237 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Logger data (.mat 536 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Chelonia CPOD (digital) and TPOD (analog) recording porpoise echolocation events |
| Fish Tags | No detections during this deployment | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
May - August 2010 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: May 6, 2010 - August 17, 2010
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (103 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data - Site A (.mat 147 MB)
ADCP data - Site B (.mat 70 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Pressure, Salinity, and Temperature | Instrument did not deploy correctly | Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Logger data (.mat 512 kB)
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Chelonia CPOD (digital) and TPOD (analog) recording porpoise echolocation events |
| Fish Tags | Detection data (.txt 3 kB) | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
August - November 2010 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: August 18, 2010 - November 8, 2010
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (82 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spiders (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
Primary deployment - 55m water depth at probable turbine deployment location
Secondary deployment - 30m water to the northwest of Admiralty Head - Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity | ADCP data - Primary deployment (.mat 253 MB)
Header information 
ADCP data - Secondary deployment (.mat 104 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate
|
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Pending analysis by WA Dept. of Ecology
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen (primary deployment) |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Echolocation events from marine mammals
|
| Fish Tags | No detections on either primary or secondary deployment | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
November 2010 - February 2011 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: November 10, 2010 - February 10, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (83 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spiders (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
Sea Spider #02 - 55m water depth at probable turbine deployment location
Sea Spider #03 - 47m water depth directly beneath ferry lanes - Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity |
ADCP data - SS #02 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 145 MB)
Header information 
ADCP data - SS #02 (3 second ensembles) (.mat 349 MB) Header information 
ADCP data - SS #03 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 167 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate
|
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Pending analysis by WA Dept. of Ecology
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen (primary deployment) |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Echolocation events from marine mammals
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| Fish Tags |
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VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
| PAR | Very, very dark. Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Photosynthetically active radiation sensor (Wetlabs PARSB) |
February 2011 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: February 11, 2011 - February 21, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (10 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider #04 (55m water depth) (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, underwater noise, sediment size distribution, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity |
Contact Jim Thomson for access to data
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Bottom Velocity | Contact Jim Thomson for access to data | S4 electromagnetic current meter measuring velocity within 1 m of seabed |
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate with and without flow shields |
| Echolocations | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Test various instrument configurations for four CPODs |
| Fish Tags | No detections | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
| Sediment size distribution | Sediment data (.zip 14 MB) | Sediment size distributions measured by Sequoia Instruments LISST (provided by Sandia National Laboratory) |
February - May 2011 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: February 13, 2011 - May 9, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (85 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spiders (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
Sea Spider #02 - 55m water depth at probable turbine deployment location
Sea Spider #03 - 50m water depth in traffic separation zone between northbound and southbound traffic lanes - Measurements: Velocity, water depth, salinity, temperature, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity |
ADCP data - SS #02 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 280 MB)
Header information 
ADCP data - SS #03 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 210 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate
|
| Pressure, Salinity, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen | Pending analysis by WA Dept. of Ecology
Header information |
Times series of temperature, salinity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen (primary deployment) |
| Echolocations | Contact Jim Thomson or Brian Polagye for access to data | Echolocation events from marine mammals
|
| Fish Tags | No detections on either SS #02 and SS #03 | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
| PAR | Very, very dark. Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Photosynthetically active radiation sensor (Wetlabs PARSB) |
May-June 2011 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: May 9, 2011 - June 8, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (30 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spider #04 (55m water depth) (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity |
Contact Jim Thomson for access to data
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Echolocations | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Echolocation events from marine mammals (CPOD) |
| Fish Tags | No detections | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
May-August 2011 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: May 11, 2011 - August 9, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (90 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spiders (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
Sea Spider #02 - 59m water depth at turbine site 1
Sea Spider #03 - 61m water depth at turbine site 2
Sea Spider #04 - 61m water depth at backup turbine site - Measurements: Velocity, water depth, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity |
ADCP data - SS #02 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 275 MB)
Header information 
ADCP data - SS #03 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 220 MB) Header information 
ADCP data - SS #04 (1 s ensembles) Contact Jim Thomson for access to data Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Echolocations | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Echolocation events from marine mammals (CPOD)
|
| Fish Tags | Contact Joe Talbert for access to data | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
August-November 2011 (Stationary Deployment)
- Duration: August 11, 2011 - November 14, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (96 days)
- Survey Platform: Sea Spiders (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
Sea Spider #02 - 54m water depth at turbine site 1a
Sea Spider #03 - 58m water depth at turbine site 2a
- Measurements: Velocity, water depth, underwater noise, echolocations, fish tags
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity |
ADCP data - SS #02 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 275 MB)
Header information 
ADCP data - SS #03 (1 minute ensembles) (.mat 230 MB) Header information 
|
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
|
| Background Noise | Contact Chris Bassett for access to data | Hydrophone recording background noise at 80 kHz sampling rate |
| Echolocations | Contact Brian Polagye for access to data | Echolocation events from marine mammals (CPOD)
|
| Fish Tags | No detections | VEMCO fish tag hydrophone recording unique fish tags in close proximity to deployment |
Marrowstone Island, Washington
The waters off Nodule Point on Marrowstone Island (southern Admiralty Inlet) are relatively shallow (20 m depth) with moderate currents (peak velocities of around 2 m/s). While the site is not of commercial interest for first generation tidal energy devices, conditions are similar to those at more energetic sites. This provides an at-sea location to test various instrumentation systems before committing them to the higher energy environments in northern Admiralty Inlet.
The location has been proposed for a demonstration of a small array of Verdant Power turbines by the US Navy and Verdant Power, but that project is currently on-hold pending availability of funding. Similarly, UW-NNMREC has suggested this location might be suitable as an at-sea tidal energy test platform, but that effort is also on-hold pending availability of funding.
- Location: Puget Sound, Washington Map of Project Area
- Site Developer: None
- Device Developer: None
- Dates: May 2010 - Present
Surveys conducted to date - click on links to view full survey information and data
| Shipboard Surveys | Bottom Deployments |
May 4-22, 2010
- Duration: May 4-22, 2010
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (18 days)
- Survey Platform: Tidal Turbulence Tripod (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, salinity, temperature
The purpose of this deployment, a collaboration between UW-NNMREC and PNNL, was to collect data suitable for quantification of turbulence at tidal energy sites. This is not possible with the relatively long ensembles (1 minute) typically used for site characterization activities. A Doppler velocimeter (ADV) and Doppler profiler (ADCP) were deployed simultaneously to assess the capabilities of each type of instrument for turbulence measurements. Both pieces of instrumentation were deployed by divers on a 4.5 m tall tripod ballasted by 1.5 tons of steel.
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| Figure - Tidal Turbulence Tripod | Figure - Comparison between ADCP and ADV turbulence metrics ( higher res) |
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity (Doppler velocimeter) |
Contact Jim Thomson for access to data
|
Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) measurements of three dimensional velocity at a point
|
| Velocity (Doppler profiler) | Contact Jim Thomson for access to data | Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
throughout the water column
|
| Pressure, Salinity and Temperature | Contact Jim Thomson for access to data | Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
February 10-27, 2011
- Duration: February 10-27, 2011
- Survey Type: Stationary survey (14 days)
- Survey Platform: Tidal Turbulence Tripod (University of Washington, Applied Physics Lab)
- Measurements: Velocity, salinity, temperature
The purpose of this deployment, a collaboration between UW-NNMREC and PNNL, was to collect data suitable for quantification of turbulence at tidal energy sites. A Doppler velocimeter (ADV) and Doppler profiler (ADCP) were deployed simultaneously to assess the capabilities of each type of instrument for turbulence measurements. Both pieces of instrumentation were deployed on a 4.5 m tall tripod ballasted by 1.5 tons of steel and equiped with an acoustic release.
| Study Type | Download Link | Description |
| Velocity (Doppler velocimeter) |
Contact Jim Thomson for access to data |
Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) measurements of three dimensional velocity at a point
|
| Velocity (Doppler profiler) | Contact Jim Thomson for access to data | Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements of three dimensional velocity
throughout the water column
|
| Pressure, Salinity and Temperature | Contact Jim Thomson for access to data | Times series of temperature, salinity, and pressure |
Site Modeling
After learning about and analyzing significant flow features through idealized modeling of a headland and a
double-silled channel for tidal turbine siting, research has moved forward into simulation and analysis of a
realistic model of Admiralty Inlet. This model is run using ROMS and is nested in a large, regional model of the
Salish Sea operated out of the UW School of Oceanography. Using the output from this model, researchers are
investigating what areas of the Inlet are best suited for tidal turbine placement and why.
Contact Kristen Thyng for additional details.
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Figure - Eddies during ebb |
Figure - Eddies during flood |