RECENT PROJECTS

The senior level professionals of Solmar have successfully completed over 100 projects. These projects have consisted of near shore and off shore hydrographic surveys and marine construction projects throughout the Pacific Northwest and the world. Standard scope includes the mobilization, acquisition, processing and QA/QC of acquired data with final work products consisting of GIS ready bathymetry, side scan mosaics and rendered three dimensional terrain models.

Montana - Solmar Hydro Inc. was contracted by Hatch Energy to conduct a high-resolution multibeam inspection survey of the Cabinet Gorge dam’s forebay. A small survey vessel was mobilized with a Reson 8101 multibeam and Hysweep acquisition system. Positioning and orientation of the vessel utilized the CodaOctopus F-180, augmented with a Trimble 5800 Real Time Kinematic GPS. The goal of the survey was to delineate the orientations of the tunnel headworks structures that were used to divert the Clark River during the construction of the dam.

HATI - Lead Hydrographer, seafloor classification project, Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge. Solmar Hydro Inc. was contracted by NOAA’s Center for Coastal Fisheries & Habitat Research for survey planning, acquisition, processing and QA/QC of multibeam data. The data was used to generate habitat maps in combination with diver surveys, drop cameras and benthic photo quadrants.

need Nancy Foster photo

U.S. Virgin Islands - Lead Hydrographer, seafloor classification project, Buck Island Reef National Monument, USVI. Solmar Hydro Inc. was contracted by NOAA’s Center for Coastal Monitoring & Assessment for survey planning, acquisition, processing and QA/QC for multibeam operations onboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster.

Washington - Solmar Hydro was contracted to conduct high-resolution multibeam bathymetric survey of three large reservoirs. A total of 1900 line miles of hydrographic surveying were performed over 35 days in a remote mountainous region in southern Washington. Zephyr Marine's S/V Minotaur was mobilized with a Reson 8101 multibeam and Triton ISIS acquisition system. Positioning and orientation of the vessel utilized the CodaOctopus F-180 augmented with a Trimble 5700 Real Time Kinematic GPS.

Alaska - Solmar Hydro, in collaboration with NW-Geo, was contracted to conduct a target search and positioning services for ROV recovery operations. A Klein 3000 digital side scanning sonar was mobilized along with a Track Point II acoustic positioning device. Near real time mosaicking of the data was performed with ISIS Sonar to help delineate trends of the seafloor debris fields during the search and recovery process. Working along with Sonsub Rov technicians, NW-Geo and Solmar were able to successfully identify and navigate to targets important to the projects goals.

Gulf of Mexico - Hazard assessment survey of areas proposed anchor coverage for two wells in blocks 502 and 546 Mississippi canyon, offshore Gulf of Mexico utilizing a deep water ELAC 50kHz multibeam system in 1000m of water. Working along with Search Survey Recovery INC. and Tesla Offshore a complete bathymetric chart was developed near real time, utilizing Hydrostar acquisition and CARIS processing software. Solmar Hydro provided accurate data for the client to delineate seafloor features and regional geology for safe and efficient anchor deployment and retrieval during rig positioning.

Trinidad, West Indies - Solmar Hydro was hired as the onboard geologist for Capital Signal Co. Ltd. The Primary purpose of this survey was to identify any geologic hazards or obstructions for the safe and efficient mobilization of British Petroleum’s Monitor Rig in the vicinity of Mahogany A Platform. The Mahogany A Platform is an online natural gas production facility, offshore of Eastern Trinidad in the West Indies. Identifying these features required the implementation of several hydrographic and geophysical mapping tools including a magnetometer, Multibeam and Side scan sonar's. Representing Capital Signal and communicating with British Petroleum's Client representatives Solmar was able to provide with confidence the existing seafloor infrastructure locations and delineate seafloor hazards.

Commencement Bay, Washington - Solmar Hydro was contracted to perform a condition survey of Concrete Technologies pier facilities on the Middle Waterway in Tacoma Washington. A 22-foot vessel was mobilized with 200 kHz echosounder, navigation and acquisition equipment. Corrected soundings were used to delineate the loading tolerances of barges offloading concrete supplies and loading concrete span ways for highway construction.

Port of Astoria, Oregon - Solmar Hydro conducted condition surveys of Pier One and Slip One of the Port of Astoria berthing facilities. A single beam echosounder was mobilized and transects were performed at 25 foot spacing. The data was contoured with QuickSurf and berthing limits plotted accordingly to the corrected soundings. The development of accurate bathymetry and positioning of the pier location allowed port authorities to inform incoming cruise vessels of berthing limits, and to develop dredging strategies for the upcoming dredge season.

Willamette River, Oregon - The Portland Harbor section of the Willamette River was listed as a federal Superfund site under the Comprehensive Environmental Remediation, Cleanup and Liability Act. As a hydrographer at DEA, Inc., we conducted several seasonal multibeam surveys to map sediment erosion and accumulation throughout the lower 16 miles of the Willamette. Acoustic Doppler Current Profiling surveys were also performed to map current velocities and there effect on sediment transport. Error tolerances for all surveys were minimized utilizing inertially aided positioning, augmented with a Real Time Kinematic GPS system.

Commencement Bay - As a hydrographer at DEA, Inc., performed monitoring surveys of a remediation and development project at Thea Foss, Middle, Blair and Wheeler Osgood waterways. Conducted surveys with a pole-mounted Reson 8101 multibeam sonar rotated 15 degree to starboard to ensonify the slope materials. Real Time Kinematic GPS was used to minimize horizontal and vertical positioning errors. Pre and post dredge surveys were performed in accordance with US Army Corps of Engineers manual, EM 1110-2-1003.

South Atlantic, Argentina – Conducted multibeam surveys to map the routes for four 8-mile gas pipelines owned by Total Austral/Total-FinaElf. Solmar utilized a Reson 8101 multibeam system to develop routes offshore of Tierra del Fuego onboard the 210 ft. offshore supply vessel CARLOS.

San Francisco Bay, California - Solmar was hired to pilot Zephyr Marine's S/V MINOTAUR in San Francisco Bay, and provide assistance to Seafloor Surveyors Inc. during survey operations and tide gauge installations.

Mediterranean, Israel - While working for Williamson & Associates, Inc., Solmar collaborated with Aker Marine and Samedan to connect Andomeda, Mari-B and NOA field developments to primary pipeline routes onboard the M/V EAS. Williamson & Associates AMS 120 deep tow sonar was deployed to develop the seafloor route, generating co-registered imagery and bathymetry.

Tropical Atlantic, Bahamas - Along with SSR, Inc. and Seafloor Systems, Inc., Solmar Hydro Inc., mobilized and operated hydrographic surveying equipment onboard the S/V ECHO. Hydrographic and geophysical surveys of the pipeline landing route were performed with an ELAC 1180 shallow-water multibeam system, EdgeTech DF-1000 digital side scan and a EdgeTech X-star chirp sub-bottom profiler. Shore landings of the Grand Bahaman pipeline route varied from abrupt reef shelves to gradual continental margin slopes near West Palm Beach, Florida.