Boundary Pass: Over Six Years of Continuous Cabled ULS Operation
(The Boundary Pass Underwater Listening Station measures noise emissions from passing vessels to help mitigate their impact upon local sea life)
JASCO’s Boundary Pass Underwater Listening System (ULS) is currently in its seventh year of continuous operation, maintaining greater than 99% uptime across both hydrophone arrays since its deployment in June 2019. This system consists of two subsea frames, located underneath the main shipping channel to Vancouver, British Columbia, in Boundary Pass. Each frame is cabled to shore and hosts acoustic arrays and a variety of oceanographic sensors. The system continues to operate with full redundancy in a high-current, high-energy environment, demonstrating the robustness of JASCO’s cabled architecture.
(JASCO Portlisten screen view of VFPA ECHO Boundary Pass AMAER 1 Station)
(JASCO Portlisten screen view of DFO Glider WASP01RB )
(JASCO Portlisten screen view of whale’s detections )
Deployed in collaboration with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authorityand Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Boundary Pass has measured underwater radiated noise from more than 60,000 vessel transits representing over 10,000 commercial ships. It has also logged more than 275,000 manually verified killer whale calls, alongside extensive humpback whale and fish detections. All ship measurements and acoustic detections are archived within the PortListen platform, providing access to audio records, spectrograms, metadata, and ambient noise statistics.
Building on this proven performance, JASCO is preparing a new cabled listening station in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire.
(The University of New Hampshire Underwater listening Station, awaiting deployment in the Gulf of Maine)
Today, JASCO’s cabled ULS systems represent more than listening stations. They are long-term seabed infrastructure platforms — capable of supporting large hydrophone arrays, oceanographic sensors, video systems, and real-time data streaming to powerful shore-based computing systems. Designed for continuous 24/7 operation and years between servicing, they provide a stable foundation for the next generation of ocean acoustic intelligence.
About JASCO Applied Sciences
JASCO Applied Sciences is a world leader in the science of underwater sound and its effects on marine life. A global company founded in Victoria, Canada, in 1981, JASCO provides services from offices in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. We provide support for all stages of environmental reviews and assessments of underwater sound for the renewable energy, oil and gas, marine construction, shipping, and defence sectors. We design, develop, and manufacture state-of-the-art oceanographic data acquisition systems to meet project demands for quality, endurance, reliability, and performance. We enable our clients to satisfy regulatory requirements by providing scientifically defensible assessments of their projects to government regulators and the public. For more information, visit: www.jasco.com.