Abstract: A ship is provided with booms that may be extended outwardly from the ship. Arrays of geophysical devices of different genera are towed from the booms, in the water behind the ship. A UHF antenna is located on each boom. A line joining the two antennas defines a long reference base line for determining the absolute heading of the ship with respect to a meridian and to locate the absolute positions of selected towed geophysical devices with respect to two-dimensional space. The booms may be oriented along a line perpendicular to the ship's track, independently of the ship's heading for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the geometric pattern of the arrays of the towed geophysical devices.

Abstract: A ship is provided with booms that may be extended outwardly from the ship. Geophysical devices of different genera are towed from the booms, in the water behind the ship. A UHF antenna is located at the outboard tip of each boom. A line joining the two antennas defines a long reference base line for determining the absolute heading of the ship with respect to a meridian and to locate the absolute positions of selected towed geophysical devices with respect to two-dimensional space. The booms may be automatically oriented along a line perpendicular to the ship's track, independently of the ship's heading.