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Background :
The first of our environmental monitoring instruments to be deployed at the Tidal Current Generator site was the AWAC, the Acoustic Wave and Current instrument. This instrument was provided for the Race Rocks Integrated Energy Project in part through Clean Current and partly through a grant from the British Columbia Ministry of Mines and Energy . |
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A Pearson College student bolts down the AWAC on the bottom platform, October, 2006 |
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| With the Nortek AWAC, we get a current profiler and a wave directional system in one unit.. The current speed and direction is measured in 1 m thick layers from the bottom to the surface and long waves, storm waves, short wind waves, or transient waves generated by local ship traffic are measured as well. |
| The AWAC was first used attached to the top of the platform of the lower piling in order to help predict the current flow direction for the installation of the tidal current generator to be installed in September. When the upper piling was installed , it was again mounted on the top of the platform and again measurements were made for a week in that position. SInce the turbine has been installed it has also been deployed on the top of the turbine and on the pad at the ocean seafloor where it will reside permanently once it is connected into the cabled fibre optics. |
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A similar instrument was used in determining the site for the tidal generator in 2005. The ADCP was also deployed in several locations for current profiles. Several videos are sown here of its deployment and recovery. |
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Examples of the graphs produced by the current profiler are included here. |
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