Friday, June 20, 2014

Device monitors water quality on Washington ferry

A device attached to the hull of the MV Salish ferry provides data on low-oxygen water and ocean acidification.

Washington State Ferries crews recently attached the sensor, an acoustic Doppler current profiler, to the bottom of the Salish, which makes 11 daily crossings between Port Townsend and Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

During the ferry crossings, the sensor gathers data about the water in the area known as Admiralty Inlet, the Puget Sound gateway where salt and fresh water comingles.

"This will help us understand Puget Sound much better," said Sandy Howard, a Department of Ecology spokesperson. "It provides a new piece of information that we never had before and will allow us to monitor current, velocity, temperature and the flow of fresh and salt water on a long-term basis."

The device is rudder-shaped and extends approximately 40 inches from the center of the hull. It stores and transmits data, according to Cotty Fay, chief naval architect and manager of vessel design for the ferry system, who said the technology is expected to last at least five years and will cause the ferry to slowdown by 0.5 percent.

The device's sensors send tiny sound waves down through the water column beneath the ferry. The time it takes for the echoes to return to the device is used to calculate the distance beneath the ship, and the Doppler shift of the ping is used to calculate speed and direction of the water flowing under the ferry.

The project, funded by a $261,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, is a partnership between Washington's Department of Ecology, Washington State Ferries and the University of Washington.

For more of the Bellingham Herald story: bellinghamherald.com


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