.png)
.png)
1 February 2019
Caroline Heaney, a Geophysicist, who has been part of Atlas team since 2011, has seen her career take her all over the world from Greenland to West Africa. Living right by the sea in Galway, Ireland, Caroline is driven by a profound love of the ocean.
She knew a maritime career was for her when she was backpacking around Australia and was in the Whitsunday Islands. “I jumped into the ocean with my mask on and saw that the seafloor was covered in coral. I had never seen anything like that in my life. It took my breath away.
“I then came back to Galway and it was the year that the Marine Institute of Ireland was under construction literally on my doorstep. I knew I wanted to learn about and explore the seafloor.”
Graduating in earth and ocean science, Caroline soon discovered that she wanted to specialise in mapping and oceanography. “The Marine Institute had just started to map the Continental Shelf. Ireland was one of the first countries to do so and I was fascinated by the findings. It was effectively peeling off layers of sediment and you knew no one had ever seen this data before. And each summer I would go out with the Marine Institute on the Celtic Explorer. I am very privileged they helped me make the right choice and get on this career path.”
Identifying UXO
Caroline later did her Masters in structural geology with geophysics in the UK. And whilst there her department entered her into a competition open to all European universities. Five students were chosen by the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain to embark on a research trip of a lifetime to the Arctic. “We went to two islands each day to look at geological formations that would be a good indicator that petroleum was present. We compared these formations to seismic data of the associated formations to aid identification of reservoirs offshore. Plus, I got to see a polar bear!”
Caroline then stayed in the UK joining a well-known surveying company, carrying out UXO surveys, inspections for several wind farms, and seabed mapping of Shetland and the Hebrides. In 2011, Caroline decided to go freelance and she joined Atlas’ Newquay office.
She enthuses about the many career highlights so far. One favourite was an Atlas project in Greenland, which was examining the seabed looking for possibilities of oil reserves. “We only had eight weeks because this was the only time when the ice retreated enough. There was a lot of pressure to get the data in time and it was very changeable weather but also a stunning environment.”
Pipe inspections
Caroline has worked in Norway carrying out several site surveys/clearance and pipe inspections. “Many platforms from the seventies and eighties are getting near the end of their lifetime so we had to conduct site clearance surveys and make sure all the debris was removed when the rigs are dismantled.”
Another highlight was spending 18 months in West Africa, again for a site clearance project and a pre-lay survey. “All of the equipment and pipes are laid out on the seafloor and then an ROV is used for a visual inspection to see if everything is connected correctly. It is thrilling to see the entire lead up to a project before it is up and running.”
Caroline also worked as the Senior Geophysicist on the Monita cable laying project. “This involved the seabed survey for 220 km of cable across the Adriatic Sea, from Italy to Montenegro, including the UXO surveys. I have always been fascinated by tectonic plate activity and this region is a hotspot. Because they had to trench I was looking at the type of soil and the impact it has on the cable.
“This area was also an official UXO dump site for the two World Wars. However, the munitions were not always dumped in the designated area so it was quite a challenge to make sure the site was secured.” One particularly poignant part of the project was when the team discovered a complete WW2 aircraft which had been shot down. “This was a US aircraft and 10 crew had been onboard. Although it was very sad it was also comforting that we could at least notify the families about the final resting place of their loved ones.”
1,600 m ROV surveys
There were also other discoveries during the project. Because the team was using side scan sonar and sub bottom profiling, they also discovered several ancient wooden wrecks with hundreds of amphorae aboard.
Another project on the other side of the world in West Africa stands out for Caroline
“We were surveying an oil field with an ROV in 1,600 m water depths and were very surprised when the umbilical of the ROV got caught in these huge depths.” Then Caroline was surprised or actually slightly horrified, she laughs to discover whilst looking through a 2 m x 2 m camera lens that a ‘sort of jelly fish’ with huge, 15 m tentacles had gripped the umbilical. “To this day I have no idea what it actually was!” The videos of fish and the underwater creatures were shared with local universities. “This all helps expand the overall knowledge of the deep,” Caroline adds.
In contrast to working on projects in the deep, Caroline is now working on wind farms in the North Sea in relatively shallow waters, conducting site surveys with side scan sonar to detect bombs made from aluminium. “This is a challenging seabed and shallow at 80-130 m and it also has massive, 15 m high sand dunes. We are having to look back at the seabed level back in the fifties to see where the bombs could be buried.”
Caroline is keen to extend her skills and recently successfully completed the CSWIP3.4U - Underwater Inspection Controller course. “One of the big advantages of working with Atlas is that I always have a great variety of work to do, whether this is explorations, interpretations or inspections and this helps me keep my skills up to date.”
Caroline is already booked until the end of the year, and says that she considers herself very lucky. “I haven’t had any downtime since joining Atlas in 2011. Atlas has served me well as I hope I have them!”
