Abstract: An underwater measurement device includes a housing for disposition on a bed surface, an opening defined by the housing, a buoy for disposition in the opening and buoyant so as to be floatable out of the opening, a cable interconnecting the housing and the buoy, and a winch in the buoy to pay out and take in the cable to permit the buoy to rise toward the sea surface and be drawn into the housing opening. A sensor is fixed to the buoy. Disposed in the device are communication circuitry for relaying to a remote station signals detected by the sensor, and operative circuitry for receiving instructions from the remote station and in response thereto operating the winch and the sensor.

Abstract: An underwater mooring system using an underwater traction winch for adjusg an underwater sensor array is provided. A main mooring buoy, moored to the sea bed by a plurality of mooring cables, serves as the mounting point for an underwater traction winch as well as the mooring point for a sensor array maintained afloat above the main mooring buoy. In one embodiment, depth adjustment is achieved by using the traction winch to alter the length of the mooring cable connecting the sensor array to the main mooring buoy. In another embodiment, depth adjustment is achieved by using the traction winch to alter the length of one of the mooring cables fixed to the sea bed.