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Pacific Northwest Lab's Sensor-Packed Fish Gauges Hydropower Facilities

Posted by samzenpus on from the release-the-swimbot dept.

coondoggie writes Sometimes it takes a fish to do a man's job. Scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a sensor-laden, synthetic Sensor Fish that can be used to swim into hydropower facilities like dams to evaluate structures and other environmental systems. Using Sensor Fish, PNNL researchers say they can measure the various forces juvenile salmon experience as they pass through dams. The Sensor Fish initially was designed to evaluate dams equipped with a common type of turbine along the Columbia River, the Kaplan turbine. The pressure change, they found, is akin to traveling from sea level to the top of Mount Everest in blink of an eye.

4 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. I've worked with PNNL... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    As a result, I have a very low opinion of their competencies. Even if RoboFish (TM) does provide accurate data, I have no reason to expect it will be analyzed correctly.

    As for the bit about the pressure change, they observed a change of roughly half an atmosphere in a (distance not disclosed) of (direction not disclosed) swimming. For those of you who swim, that is very similar to the difference from descending 5 feet. For some creatures, that would be fairly dramatic. For most sea-life, that's an evasive maneuver.

    1. Re:I've worked with PNNL... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      From my scuba diving days, I recall that 1ATM of pressure is 33 feet in depth rather than 10.

    2. Re:I've worked with PNNL... by Fallon · · Score: 4, Informative

      16.5 feet, not 5.

      You gain 1 atmosphere of pressure for every 33 feet (10 meters) you go down. That's nothing for scuba diving or free diving. Heck probably more common than not for anybody going off the high dive at a pool to hit 16.5 feet in the blink of an eye.

  2. um by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Informative

    So for those that don't measure pressure in Mt Everest's... It's 33% of sea level. So the turbine cuts the water pressure to 1/3rd