CCS - Saildrone 2017 San Francisco Bioacoustic Data

Project Overview: A range of solutions will be required to reach globally agreed emissions reductions targets for carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is part of the suite of technologies that will contribute to lowering atmospheric emissions of CO2 from Australia's energy system. There are a wide variety of technologies at various stages of technical and commercial readiness, with more development underway for cost effective CO2 capture and storage. Our research will provide new knowledge to inform cost-efficient measurement, monitoring and verification (MMV) of the environment of CCS projects in coastal waters. --o-- These are data from the 2017 San Fransisco sea trials trials (09-12-2017 to 15-12-2017) The WBT Mini echosounders were installed by Saildrone in San Francisco in November 2017 on two platforms – SD1007, SD1008. CSIRO staff worked with Saildrone to ensure correct operation and develop low pass filters that significantly improved noise performance. The platforms were tested in-water in San Francisco bay. A rudimentary calibration was make by suspending a reference sphere of known reflectivity beneath the transducers. The calibration was not exhaustive as this was done in a high current situation in less than ideal depths but served to confirm that the echosounders were operating correctly. The commissioning calibration was followed up with a comprehensive calibration of the acoustic systems in Hobart on the 24th and 26th of March (section 2.3.1). Sea trials were conducted in December 2017 open waters adjacent to San Francisco (Section 3.1). On March 28th the Saildrones commenced an extended trail heading from Hobart along the eastern seaboard of mainland Australia. Data were recorded using the internal ‘autonomous mode’ logging module that records to internal flash memory via the low power on-board computer.