VIDEO BELOW

Earlier this year, as part of ongoing efforts to improve data collection in the Bay of Fundy, the FORCE team deployed a large, cabled platform in Minas Passage and is sharing that data online. 

Shaun Allain, FORCE’s environmental program manager says: “The great thing about the platform is that it’s cabled – powered right here from shore at the FORCE visitor centre. We can get data in real time.” 

Sensors on board the VITALITY platform can detect harbour porpoise and measure current speed and direction.

“We deployed the platform right here in Minas Passage – the highest tides in the world – so it’s a very challenging environment to work in,” says Allain. “Usually when we deploy platforms like this, we have to deal with battery life and storage capacity of the instruments. Now that we’re cabled, it really reduces the amount of field work and time to access that data.”

The VITALITY platform has the capacity to reduce time spent on the water recovering instruments and helps ensure that data is being collected. When an instrument on the platform stops working, the team knows right away – and can then recover the platform and fix the problem.