Undersea passive acoustic Australian IMOS - part of "SeaWeb"

Deployment Map A. (above) of key acoustic sensor sites currently sampled for sea noise by IMOS (black) and the North Western Australia locations (red) which ceased [civilian?] operation in mid 2015.

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Map B. (above) IMOS about: "The Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN) Portal (http://portal.aodn.org.au ) allows marine and climate scientists and other users to discover and explore IMOS data streams coming from all of these Facilities."

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So how do the sensor network locations on the maps above compare with map below? :

Map C. (above) is from page 54 “Map 4. The US ‘Fish Hook’ Undersea Defense Line” of Desmond Ball and Richard Tanter's, The Tools of Owatatsumi Japan’s Ocean Surveillance and Coastal Defence Capabilities (2015, ANU Press) http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p309261/pdf/book.pdf?referer=444. [large PDF file] This map, looking highly sanitised, may depict past or current SeaWeb undersea array positions (eastern Asia - inner western Pacific sub-section). 

COMMENT

In plain sight is Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). 

IMOS includes Australia's dual (civilian, military) use passive acoustic undersea network and many other ocean sensor platforms. This includes RAN operated AUVs. Here is IMOS's facilities list http://imos.org.au/facilities.html - very much an Australian dual-use portion of the wider allied with the US SeaWeb sensor-database network.

IMOS includes a National Mooring Network with passive acoustic observatories that are fairly submarine relevant - see Deployment Map A.

Unsurprisingly two of IMOS "Operational Partners" are the:

“Royal Australian Navy 

·  Argo – Co-investment in Argo floats and deployment of floats

·  Expendable bathythermograph - supply the majority of the XBT probes deployed under co-investment

·  AUV – support for MV Kimbla [als see old RAN website "HMAS" Kimbla] used for pre-trial engineering deployments in 07/08

·  AODN – personnel support” 

and

[Department of] "Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) 

DST Group is the Australian government's lead agency responsible for applying science and technology to safeguard Australia and its national interests. As one of Australia’s largest employers of scientists and engineers, it delivers expert, impartial advice and innovative solutions for Defence and national security. 

·  Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) – Research fellow funding

·  Acoustic Observatories – Funded for pilot deployment of three sea noise loggers in Perth Canyon, Jan-Apr 2007 and then assisted further with logger development

·  Ocean gliders (ANFOG) – Slocum glider data from the oceans around Australia have been collected by DSTO on an ongoing basis with previous deployments contributed to the IMOS Ocean Portal including: Coral Sea deployment during Exercise Talisman Sabre in July 2011, Coral Sea deployment, adjacent to Shoalwater Bay, during Exercise Talisman Saber in July - August 2013, and a Perth Canyon deployment, during a combined ocean glider deployment in conjunction with the IMOS ocean glider facility, in February - March 2014" 

Pete