ICE DATA COLLECTION, PROCESSING AND VISUALIZATION SYSTEM

• US 20130099960A1
• Filed: 10/18/2012
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ConocoPhillips
• Original Assignee: Conocophillips Company (ConocoPhillips)
• Inventors: BROMAN, Rolf Christer, Soofi, Khalid A., Noble, Peter G., BERTA, Dominique P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,976,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/25.A
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/862 Combination of radar systems with sonar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/90 using synthetic aperture techniques , e.g. synthetic aperture radar [SAR] techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/88 Sonar systems specially adapted for specific applications seismic or acoustic prospecting or detecting G01V1/00

Abstract

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) collect and transmit information about ice floe thickness; this is combined with SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR images from satellites to identify and track dangerously thick regions of ice. The overlayed data is presented graphically to allow tracking of the thick ice regions over time. This information is used to alert drilling platforms in icy ocean conditions of pending ice floe dangers.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring ice floe movement comprising:

a) a satellite based system for acquiring SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR (SAR) images of ice floes;

b) an underwater UPWARD LOOKING SONAR (ULS) system for acquiring ice thickness data ; and

c) a control unit for receiving said SAR images and said thickness data and for correlating said images and data in time and space.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said ULS system is a single beam system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said ULS system a multi-beam system.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said ULS system is located in an underwater buoy.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said ULS system is located in an autonomous underwater vehicle

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said control unit is capable of tracking movement of hazardous ice floes, using both updated thickness and updated image data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one of said thickness and image data is updated at least every six hours.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of said thickness and image data is updated at least every four hours or less.

9. The system of claim 1, further including display hardware and software for combining SAR images and ice thickness data in a single display to allow direct visualization of the movement of areas of ice having more than a threshold thickness which may be deemed to present a risk.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the display comprises an ice thickness profile overlayed on a SAR image.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein a plurality of ice thickness profiles is overlayed on a SAR image.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the display comprises images from SAR with one or more areas indicated by color, shading or other means as being an area in which the ice may have more than a threshold thickness which may be deemed to present a risk.

13. A process for monitoring ice floe movement comprising:

a) receiving ice floe image data from a satellite based SAR system;

b) receiving ice thickness data from an underwater ULS system;

c) correlating said ice flow image data and said thickness data in time and space.

14. The process of claim 13, including hazardous ice floes having areas of a thickness which may present a risk and tracking movement of said floes using both updated thickness and updated image data.

15. The process of claim 14, further including displaying combined SAR images and ice thickness data in a single display to allow direct visualization of the movement of ice floes having areas of more than a threshold thickness which may be deemed to present a risk.

16. The process of claim 15 including displaying one or more ice thickness profiles overlayed on a SAR image.

17. The process of claim 15 comprising displaying images from SAR with one or more areas indicated by color, shading or other means as being an area in which the ice may have more than a threshold thickness which may be deemed to present a risk.