Is SOSUS still operational?

New contract augments old Cold War “SOSUS” arrays. After operating 30 undersea surveillance sites around the world during the Cold War, the Navy has only three operational today. …

How does SOSUS work?

The SOSUS system takes advantage of the sound channel that exists in the ocean, which allows low-frequency sound to travel great distances. This channel is called the SOund Fixing And Ranging, or SOFAR, channel (See How does sound travel long distances? The SOFAR Channel).

What does SOSUS stand for?

SOSUS, an acronym for sound surveillance system, is a chain of underwater listening posts located around the world in places such as the Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom—the GIUK gap—and at various locations in the Pacific Ocean.

What replaced SOSUS?

Integrated Undersea Surveillance System
With the new, mobile systems Towed Array Sensor System (TASS) and the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) entering the system, the SOSUS name was changed in 1984 to Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) to reflect the change from bottom fixed systems alone.

What is SOSUS and how does it work?

Since the early 1950s the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have been under the vigilence of SOSUS, with long acoustic sensors (hydrophones) installed across the ocean bottom at key locations. SOSUS has transitioned from single-beam paper displays to computer-based workstations for acoustic data analysis.

What kind of sound does an SOSUS array make?

The sailors operating the early SOSUS arrays also detected some sounds whose sources were at first unknown. One particular unknown sound was attributed to the “Jezebel Monster.” The sound was later found to be low-frequency blue and fin whale vocalizations.

What is SOund SUrveillance System (SOS)?

SOSUS, an acronym for sound surveillance system, is a chain of underwater listening posts located around the world in places such as the Atlantic Ocean near Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom—the GIUK gap—and at various locations in the Pacific Ocean.

When was the first SOSUS installation installed?

The first prototype of a full-size SOSUS installation — a 1,000-foot-long horizontal line array of 40 hydrophones laid on the seafloor at a depth of 1440 feet — was deployed off the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas during January 1952.