Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC

oai:digital.csic.es:10261/236024

BLUENODULES-1 Cruise (29SG20180806) carried out on the Research Vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa in 2018, The aim of the Blue Nodules field test is to carry out technical and environmental performance tests with a scale model of a polymetallic nodule collector vehicle developed within the EU funded Blue Nodules project. The model nodule collector vehicle, with dimensions of approximately 5 m x 2 m x 2 m, weighing 1500 kg in air and 300 kg in water, and connected to the ship via an umbilical cable for hoisting, power supply and data exchange, will be lowered on weakly sloping muddy seabed between 200 and 500 m depth to carry out a test program for assessing performance of its propulsion and nodule collector system. Minimizing environmental impact is an important goal of the Blue Nodules project, and therefore assessment of environmental effects will be an integral part of the test program, with particular attention to disturbance of the surface sediment layer, formation of sediment plumes and underwater noise