India Keeps Close Watch on Chinese Research Vessel
A Chinese research vessel is on its way to the Maldives, according to an Indian military official and an independent researcher, as new Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu deepens ties with Beijing, distancing from New Delhi.It is likely to raise concern in New Delhi, which has previously viewed the presence of such vessels close to its shores, including in Sri Lanka in 2022, as problematic.These vessels are not military ships, officially, but India and others worry about the military use of their research.Relations between traditional friends New Delhi and Male have soured since President Muizzu took
Falcon ROV Helps Protect Maldives Coral Reefs
A Saab Seaeye Falcon underwater robot has helped complete the first-ever systematic scientific survey of the waters of the Maldives - the lowest-lying nation on earth.The Maldives is just 1.5 meters above sea level on islands of coral reef atolls. Globally, coral reefs account for 32% of known biodiversity. They are seen as the ‘rainforests of the ocean’, yet at least 97% could be lost with a 1.5-degree temperature rise.The Nekton Foundation in partnership with the Maldives Marine Research Institute undertook the mission to understand the Maldives’ ecosystem to help create extensive
Saab Seaeye Joins the Nekton Maldives Mission
A Saab Seaeye Falcon underwater robotic vehicle will join a fleet of submersibles on the Nekton Maldives Mission to help the Maldives Government carry out the first systematic survey and sampling of the Maldives from the surface to 1,000 meter depths.As an official partner, Saab Seaeye has donated the use of a Seaeye Falcon to work alongside human-occupied submersibles, autonomous systems and research technologies.The Maldives state is 99% ocean and 1% land, sitting on average 1.5 meters above sea level. As a result, the nation faces a growing threat from rising seas.For the first time, the mission
'Doomsday’ Glacier Could Trigger Global Floods and Swallow Islands
into the ocean.A sea level rise of several meters would inundate many of the world’s major cities – including Shanghai, New York, Miami, Tokyo and Mumbai. It would also cover huge swathes of land in coastal regions and largely swallow up low-lying island nations like Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Maldives.As big as BritainThwaites is a frozen river of ice approximately the size of Great Britain. It already contributes around 4% of the global sea-level rise. Since 2000, the glacier has had a net loss of more than 1000 billion tons of ice and this has increased steadily over the last three decades
Discovery: Uncovering Manta Ray Behavior via Mini ADCP
oceanographic instruments, characterize current flows in one of the manta ray‘s more unusual shallow-water coastal habitats with simplicity and ease.Powerful yet graceful, manta rays top almost everyone’s list of must-see marine animals. While people flock to places like Indonesia or the Maldives to watch these gentle giants, one location has gone relatively unnoticed – South Florida.“I lived in Florida working as a sea turtle biologist, and a lot of data collection involved being on the beach all day,” said Jessica Pate, a marine biologist with the Marine Megafauna Foundation
KAUST and Others Conduct Deepest Manned Red Sea Dive
as possible with this, the deepest diving system on the planet, and investigate the 90 percent of the ocean that remains unexplored," said Vescovo. The next phase in the 2020 Caladan Oceanic Expeditions is in partnership with the Nekton organisation in the Indian Ocean to explore the Seychelles and Maldives
Fleet Xpress Chosen for Nekton Project
and Sonardyne, it won the 2019 IBC Innovation Award for Content Distribution and the 2020 Royal Television Society News Technology Award.The 2020 mission entitled ‘First Descent – Midnight Zone’ will include a 35-day long voyage starting in mid-March exploring biodiversity around the Maldives, Seychelles and the High Seas. Video, audio and - for the first time - data will be transmitted from the deepest parts of the High Seas in the Indian Ocean to the research vessel Pressure Drop, then relayed via Fleet Xpress to marine science projects focusing on sustainable oceans. “The
Submarine Excursions Now Available in the Maldives
Relax by the pool, sip a cocktail on the beach, explore the marine environment in a submarine . . .Guests at the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru are able to go beyond the typical vacation experience with an underwater flight excursion aboard the three-person DeepFlight Super Falcon 3S, a submarine designed specifically for underwater tourism.For $1,500.00 (+12% GST) per flight, a trained submarine pilot will take up to two guests below the surface to explore the beautiful Maldivian waters in DeepFlight Adventures’ newest 8-meter sub. Over the course of an hourlong dive, passengers
Seas to Continue Rising Even if Climate Goals Are Met
rise, driven by a thaw of ice from Greenland to Antarctica that will re-draw global coastlines, a German-led team wrote in the journal Nature Communications. Sea level rise is a threat to cities from Shanghai to London, to low-lying swathes of Florida or Bangladesh, and to entire nations such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean or Kiribati in the Pacific. By 2300, the report projected that sea levels would gain by 0.7-1.2 metres, even if almost 200 nations fully meet goals under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which include cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in the second half of this century
February 2024
