Apparatus and methods for cleaning an ocean bottom cable

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus () for an ocean bottom cable () including a plurality of node casings (), each containing at least one sensor capsule (). During retrieval, an initial flushing device flushes the assembled cable with seawater before the capsules () are separated from the casings () in a loading/unloading apparatus (). A washing tunnel () is configured to flush the sensor capsule () with water supplied from a freshwater tank () through a waterfeed pipe (). Preferably, the cleaning apparatus also comprises a secondary flushing device for flushing the components with seawater after separation, and a drying tunnel (). Separate conveyors convey the sensor capsules () and the node casings () to their respective destinations, such that each component may be flushed in seawater and/or freshwater and/or dried as required. The cleaning apparatus is optimized to use a minimum of freshwater and energy.