It’s a dream come true for oceanographic scientists with the National Institute of Oceanography - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research flagging off the indigenously built Research Vessel Sindhu Sadhana for its maiden month-long expedition in Andaman Sea at Visakhapatnam Port on Sunday.
The ship built at ABG Shipyard in Gujarat and equipped with ultra modern research facilities was flagged off by MP K. Haribabu in the presence of NIO-Goa Director S.W.A. Naqvi.
It carries 29 scientists headed by V.S.N. Murthy, in-charge of NIO Visakhapatnam Regional Centre and 28-member crew headed by Captain S.R. Lokhande.
The ship including equipment cost NIO around Rs.220 crore.
“RV Sindhu Sadhana is a new asset for underwater exploration to carry out monsoon experiments and know ocean processes in deep sea basins of Andamans.
It will be useful for carrying out studies on poly metallic nodules in Central Indian Ocean to explore deep-sea minerals like nickel, copper and cobalt-rich manganese crusts,” Dr. Naqvi said.
The vessel is designed for a cruising speed of 13.5 knots and endurance of 45 days.
It has 10 modern laboratories fitted with state-of-the art equipment to facilitate high precision data and sample collection.
RV Sindhu Sadhana has facilities for online data collection and processing from single-beam and multi-beam echo sounders, water column and sub-bottom profiler, gravimeter, magnetometer, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiler.
It also has autonomous weather station (AWS), air quality monitors and sampling gears such as A-frame, Gamma frame, CTD winch and deep sea winches with supporting cranes.
The vessel has dynamic positioning system to allow holding the ship at a point for various sampling including 240 meter long sediment cores.
It can facilitate precise deployment of instrumented moorings, towing of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).
