A newly acquired AML Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) will help Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) develop improved methods of mapping the seafloor. With its ability to conduct real-time, vertical profiles continuously and automatically, the MVP200 is expected to improve the efficiency and quality of data collection.

Looking to add ground-truthing to the process of multibeam data acquisition, AML and NSCC are working together to integrate lights and a high-resolution camera to the tow body that houses the underway profiling system’s sound velocity (SV), conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD), or
multiparameter instrumentation. Ground-truthing is a critical step in validating the seafloor characteristics (e.g., seafloor sediments and habitats) for interpretation of seafloor-mapping multibeam data.

NSCC’s MVP200 will be built down the road from the waterfront campus in Canadian manufacturer AML Oceanographic’s Atlantic office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The solution is expected to be supplied in fall 2019 and includes the MVP200, CTD instrumentation, installation and training services.