JASCO Applied Sciences provides scientific consulting services and equipment related to

underwater acoustics Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water, its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake, a river or a tank. Typ ...

. JASCO operates from 7 international locations and provides services to the

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ...

, marine construction,

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

maritime transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

and defence sectors. The head office is located in Halifax, NS

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. JASCO employs acousticians, bioacousticians,

physicists A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, marine mammal scientists,

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

technologist Technologist may refer to: * Applied Science Technologist, a Canadian professional title in engineering and applied science technology. * Architectural technologist, a specialist in the technology fields of building, design and construction. * C ...

s, and

project managers A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined f ...

Services

Ocean Systems Engineering

JASCO designs and manufactures small and large ocean monitoring systems. JASCO was responsible for the $9.5M Boundary Pass Underwater Listening Station commissioned by

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

. The listening station is a cabled observatory in the

Salish Sea , image = PNW-straits.jpg , alt = , caption = The Salish Sea, showing the open Pacific Ocean at lower left, and from there, heading inland: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the narrow Puget Sound at lower ri ...

completed in June 2020.

Underwater Sound Monitoring

The firm deploys calibrated sound recorders to measure underwater sound levels. Projects may be long-term, wide-area acoustic monitoring programs or short-term measurements of industrial sources or marine vessels. The data collected are then analysed to determine the

acoustic signature The term acoustic signature is used to describe a combination of acoustic emissions of sound emitters, such as those of ships and submarines. In addition, aircraft, machinery, and living animals can be described as having their own characteristic ...

of the sound sources, characterize the

ambient noise Background noise or ambient noise is any sound other than the sound being monitored (primary sound). Background noise is a form of noise pollution or interference. Background noise is an important concept in setting noise levels. Background no ...

conditions at the measurement site, or detect and identify marine mammal vocalizations. To determine the environmental impacts, JASCO measures underwater anthropogenic noise from many sources, including: * Pile driving and

offshore construction Offshore construction is the installation of structures and facilities in a marine environment, usually for the production and transmission of electricity, oil, gas and other resources. It is also called maritime engineering. Construction a ...

for marine terminals, bridges, wind turbines, etc. * Seismic survey operations * Marine vessels * High-frequency

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

such as

side-scan sonar Side-scan sonar (also sometimes called side scan sonar, sidescan sonar, side imaging sonar, side-imaging sonar and bottom classification sonar) is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea ...

multibeam sonar A multibeam echosounder (MBES) is a type of sonar that is used to map the seabed. It emits acoustic waves in a fan shape beneath its transceiver. The time it takes for the sound waves to reflect off the seabed and return to the receiver is used ...

, and echosounders * Tidal energy devices

Predictive Modelling Studies

The firm also conducts numerical modelling studies to predict the underwater field of noise sources required for industrial projects'

environmental impact assessments Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

. The loud sounds produced by pile driving and seismic surveys can disturb and even injure marine mammals and fish. The results of underwater acoustic modelling are commonly expressed as safety radii (or exclusion zone radii) that are used by

marine mammal observer A marine mammal observer (MMO) is a professional in environmental consulting who specializes in whales and dolphins. In recent years there has been increased concern for the effect of man-made noise pollution in the ocean, particularly upon ce ...

s during operations to ensure animals are not exposed to harmful levels of noise. Results are also provided as contour maps of the sound levels around the noise source. These maps can be used to assess or mitigate the impacts of the noise on

marine mammals Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their relia ...

, fish, and other aquatic wildlife. JASCO also performs modelling of aquatic species’ movement and behaviour, exposing simulated marine animals (called animats) to 3-D modelled sound fields. Unique movement and behaviour parameters are determined for each species from animal behaviour studies to simulate how the animals behave and move within the environment. The acoustic exposure of each animal is determined and compared to the regulated exposure criteria to predict potential environmental impacts of an acoustic source.

Acoustic Software Development

JASCO develops scientifically based software for the analysis and display of underwater acoustic data, including automated detection algorithms for marine mammal species and anthropogenic noise sources.

Notable Projects

Notable projects JASCO was/is involved in: * Boundary Pass Underwater Listening Station commissioned by

, 2020+ * Underwater Warfare Suite Upgrade (UWSU) for

Department of National Defence (Canada) The Department of National Defence (DND; french: Ministère de la Défense nationale) is the department of the Government of Canada which supports the Canadian Armed Forces in its role of defending Canadian national interests domestically and i ...

, 2018+ * Atlantic Deepwater Ecosystem Observatory Network (ADEON) with

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

, 2017+ * Vineyard Wind 1 and Vineyard Wind South — acoustic impact assessments, 2017+ *

Port of Vancouver The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, whic ...

Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program — Monitoring and analysis for various projects, 2015+ *

Roberts Bank Terminal 2 construction project — Measurement, analysis, and modelling studies, 2014+ *

South Fork Wind Farm South Fork Wind Farm is a utility-scale offshore wind farm currently being constructed on the Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Rhode Island (RI) which will provide energy to New York state. South Fork is a major (130 MW, 12-turbine) commercial ...

— Underwater acoustic assessment, 2019 *

Pattullo Bridge The Pattullo Bridge is a through arch bridge that crosses the Fraser River and links the city of New Westminster to the city of Surrey in British Columbia. It was named in honour of Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, the 22nd Premier of British Columbia. A ...

Replacement — underwater acoustic modelling, 2018 *

Mary River Mine The Mary River Mine is an Open-pit mining, open pit Iron ore, iron ore mine on Inuit Owned Land (IOL) operated by the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation (BIMC), in the Mary River (Nunavut), Mary River area of the Qikiqtaaluk Region, on Baffin Isla ...

— determining effects to marine mammals from shipping noise, 2018 * Underwater Listening Station in the Strait of Georgia for

— part of the VENUS ocean observatory, 2015-2018 * Tappan Zee Bridge Construction — underwater noise modeling and monitoring, 2016-2017 *

Block Island Wind Farm Block Island Wind Farm was the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, located from Block Island, Rhode Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The five-turbine, 30 MW project was developed by Deepwater Wind, now Ørsted US Offshore ...

— underwater acoustic measurement and monitoring, 2015-2016 * Chukchi Sea Environmental Studies Program (CSESP) — large-scale acoustic monitoring and analysis, 2009–2016 * LNG Canada Export Terminal — underwater acoustic assessment, 2015 *

Hywind Scotland Hywind Scotland is the world's first commercial wind farm using floating wind turbines, situated off Peterhead, Scotland. The farm has five 6 MW Siemens direct-drive turbines on ''Hywind'' floating monopiles, with a total capacity of 30 MW ...

— analysis of floating turbine acoustic signature, 2011

Products

OceanObserver acquisition and processing system

Th
OceanObserver
is an underwater acoustic

data recorder A data logger (also datalogger or data recorder) is an electronic device that records data over time or about location either with a built-in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they ar ...

that processes sound data onboard in order to detect marine mammal vocalization. This removes the necessity to transfer the raw acoustic data from the recorder, reducing demands on communication bandwidth. The OceanObserver is used in numerous instruments, including robotic vehicles (e.g.

underwater gliders An underwater glider is a type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that employs variable-buoyancy propulsion instead of traditional propellers or thrusters. It employs variable buoyancy in a similar way to a profiling float, but unlike a flo ...

), spar buoys, real-time monitoring buoys, research buoys, and cabled underwater observatories. Typical projects for these instruments include: * Real-time pile driving monitoring: sending peak sound pressure levels to shore to ensure regulated threshold levels are not exceeded. * Marine mammal detection and avoidance: Detecting and localizing marine mammals over vast areas to allow alerting nearby vessels or operations to prevent collision or disturbance. For example, marine mammal detection has been used to locate

North Atlantic right whales The North Atlantic right whale (''Eubalaena glacialis'') is a baleen whale, one of three right whale species belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena'', all of which were formerly classified as a single species. Because of their docile nature, their sl ...

in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and enable temporary closures of affected areas. * Quantifying and mitigating vessel noise: Semi-permanent seabed monitoring stations, connected to shore by undersea cable, sending vessel sound source measurements to determine how to reduce impacts from vessel underwater

noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...

AMAR G4 underwater sound recorder

The successor to the AMAR G3
AMAR G4 (Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorder Generation 4)
is an underwater acoustic and

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

with 10 TB of removable SD memory cards and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

communications. It consists of recording electronics housed inside a watertight pressure housing. The AMAR can be connected to up to 16

hydrophones A hydrophone ( grc, ὕδωρ + φωνή, , water + sound) is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potenti ...

and up to 7 oceanographic sensors (e.g.,

dissolved oxygen Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

acidity In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

AMAR G3 underwater sound recorder

The Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorder Generation 3 (AMAR G3) is an underwater acoustic and oceanographic data recorder consisting of recording electronics housed inside a watertight pressure housing. The AMAR can be connected to up to 8 hydrophones sampled at rates up to 128 kHz. Several AMARs were used on the

Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...

branch of the VENUS ocean observatory, an observatory that provides publicly available underwater

sound recordings Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, Mechanical system, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of ...

.{{cite web , title = Ocean Networks Canada Data: Salish Sea > Strait of Georgia East > Underwater Listening Station - Secondary , url = https://data.oceannetworks.ca/DataSearch?location=ECHO1 , publisher =

Ocean Networks Canada Ocean Networks Canada is a University of Victoria initiative that operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories in the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea. Additionally, Ocean Networks Canada operates smaller community-based obs ...

References

External links

JASCO Official Website
Acoustics Canadian brands Instrument-making corporations Companies established in 1981 1981 establishments in British Columbia Technology companies of Canada Companies based in Halifax, Nova Scotia