A research vessel is any type of vessel or boat that is used for underwater research, typically to collect data for mapping or planning underwater construction or mining. It is a type of research vessel, and may be designed for that purpose, modified for that purpose, or temporarily commissioned as an opportunity vessel, and may be crewed, remotely operated, or autonomous. Size and equipment vary depending on the task and availability.
Role
The mission of research vessels is to map the ocean floor and measure characteristics of the benthic zone, total water column, and surface in order to:
- hydrography, the measurement and description of the physical characteristics of the oceans and other natural bodies of water and predict how they will change over time, primarily to ensure the safety of navigation and in support of other activities involving these bodies of water
- general oceanography, the scientific study of the oceans
- marine habitat mapping as part of the environmental assessment process
- measuring the environmental impacts of natural and human-induced changes
- marine salvage planning, the process of raising a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other marine casualty
- dredging, the removal of material from beneath the water to retrieve materials or change the profile of the seafloor, usually for navigational or construction purposes
- underwater engineering, which is industrial construction in an underwater environment
- coastal engineering, the branch of civil engineering concerned with building on or near the coast, and the development of the coast itself,
- marine archaeology, the study of human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers through the study of the physical remains associated with them,
- underwater mining and extraction of petroleum.
Geodetic equipment
Typically, modern research vessels are equipped with one or more of the following equipment:
- Satellite navigation to provide autonomous geospatial positioning,
- Single beam sonar to measure underwater physical and biological components,
- Multi-beam sonar to accurately and efficiently map the seafloor,
- Side scan sonar to efficiently create relief images of large areas of the seafloor,
- Towed magnetometer to measure the Earth's magnetic field, in geophysical surveys, to detect magnetic anomalies,
- Seismic reflection equipment to profile underground rocks. Seismic sources include air guns, sparkers and boomers.
- Sediment sampling equipment such as a Van Veen grab sampler, box sampler, epibenthic sampler or other sampling equipment.
- CTD probes for measuring seawater conductivity, temperature and pressure
- Inertial unit of measurement
