3 ms·

the only thing I could possibly think of are receive-only apparatus like magnetometers, which are themselves used by low flying aircraft and surface ships to lo

the only thing I could possibly think of are receive-only apparatus like magnetometers, which are themselves used by low flying aircraft and surface ships to locate submarines. And likely of very limited value in underwater navigation unless you're in a research submarine literally hovering a few meters above some rocky metallic outcroping on a seamount. Or something thermal sensor based, there's rumored to be systems that submarines can use passively to follow and track other submarines by the waste heat put into the water.

pueblito 4y ago
I suspect the real purpose of the Poseidon nuke torpedo is to avoid the difficulties of detecting subs by over-pressuring an enormous area all at once, like fishing with dynamite
etiam 4y ago
I'm not sure how practical they are for mapping but the sensitivity of some such sensors is so outrageous you can definitely measure well beyond a few meters of distance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID Managing the interference is probably the main issue. Actually, I see now the Wikipedia entry lists prospecting among the uses, so I guess it's quite possibly not only practical but even practiced.
- walrus01 4y ago
  My understanding of the physics is that SQUIDs only work at distances of max of 50-100mm, not more...
  - etiam 4y ago
    You seem generally very knowledgeable about this environment and I'm by no means an expert in the SQUID, but the way I understand it it's effectively a magnetometer with sensitivity down to about femtotesla scale. Clearly that could in principle pick up the magnetic effects of many objects well beyond a decimeter, even with consideration of the field rapidly declining with distance. The main problem in using it, as I understand it, is rather that picking up everything the sensor could detect would usually result in an unmanageable deluge of unwanted information, and it's a normal operation context to filter the signal for distance so as to not pick up too much interference from equipment, staff, etc. But personally I don't see any reason it would be impossible to arrange it to band-pass instead of low-pass in that filtering.

pueblito 4y ago

I suspect the real purpose of the Poseidon nuke torpedo is to avoid the difficulties of detecting subs by over-pressuring an enormous area all at once, like fishing with dynamite

etiam 4y ago

I'm not sure how practical they are for mapping but the sensitivity of some such sensors is so outrageous you can definitely measure well beyond a few meters of distance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQUID Managing the interference is probably the main issue. Actually, I see now the Wikipedia entry lists prospecting among the uses, so I guess it's quite possibly not only practical but even practiced.

walrus01 4y ago
My understanding of the physics is that SQUIDs only work at distances of max of 50-100mm, not more...
- etiam 4y ago
  You seem generally very knowledgeable about this environment and I'm by no means an expert in the SQUID, but the way I understand it it's effectively a magnetometer with sensitivity down to about femtotesla scale. Clearly that could in principle pick up the magnetic effects of many objects well beyond a decimeter, even with consideration of the field rapidly declining with distance. The main problem in using it, as I understand it, is rather that picking up everything the sensor could detect would usually result in an unmanageable deluge of unwanted information, and it's a normal operation context to filter the signal for distance so as to not pick up too much interference from equipment, staff, etc. But personally I don't see any reason it would be impossible to arrange it to band-pass instead of low-pass in that filtering.