Coley, Kira
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Bayonet Kicks off Ocean Business with ‘Truck of the Sea’ Demo
Bayonet Ocean Vehicles and Greensea Systems hosted a live demonstration of their Bayonet 250 autonomous underwater ground vehicle today ahead of Ocean Business. The first-ever UK demonstration took place along the River Itchen, Southampton.The Bayonet Vehicle is a powerful tool designed to operate in high surf zones where other underwater platforms cannot easily operate. The vehicles are available in three sizes…
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An Industry in Change
“What can we do differently?” The resonating question that over the last decade has reshaped a historically slow-moving industry into the fast-paced, innovation driven, entrepreneurial community we see today. By removing monopolies and making space for new concepts, we have seen smaller start-ups fast become leaders in their field. Today, both long established companies and newcomers alike must find…
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PicSea: A New Concept for Ocean Autonomy
“I just can’t believe that 70 percent of the world’s surface is underwater, but it remains almost entirely unexplored. We offer a solution that could make a huge difference to underwater survey, exploration and research. By using hundreds or even thousands of our low-cost underwater robots, we can intelligently explore these hidden depths more easily now than ever before,” said Andrew Durrant, Founder of PicSea…
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Optimizing the Tides
As long as the moon continues to orbit the earth, there will be energy in the tides. This reliability is just one of the many advantages of tidal energy, and as sea levels rise, it will become even more relevant as the effect of climate change becomes a reality. In the U.K. alone, the government estimates that wave and tidal combined has the potential to deliver 30 – 50GW equating to around 20 percent of the country’s current electricity needs.
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The Price of Subsea Mining
Over millions of years, metal particles accrete onto sediment grains slowly forming lumps of commercially-valuable metallic ores in deep aphotic basins three miles underwater. As resources dwindle, mining companies are increasingly looking to the ocean to provide the metals and minerals we need. But environmental concerns hang heavy over the deep-sea mining industries. Before we venture into places untouched by humankind…
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Smarter Ocean Robotics
It is evident by now that we are in a robotics revolution. In almost every industry, from healthcare to hospitality, robots are emerging that can successfully complete a task without the human element. Artificial intelligence (AI) is also advancing at phenomenal rates beyond what some imagined possible this decade. The marine sectors have embraced robotics in data collection and exploration, but the…
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The Autonomous Future of Seabed Mapping
No longer can we truly say “95 percent of the ocean is left unexplored.” In fact, thanks to advances in satellite monitoring by pioneers such as David Sandwell and colleagues, we now have coverage of the entire ocean. While these maps are only at a resolution of around 5 kilometers – less than current global maps of Mars and Venus – it has given us submarine topography data in locations we weren’t able to access previously.
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Anti-Submarine Warfare: Unmanned Future
Hidden under the vast crystal blues of the Pacific, a submarine is hunted from above. A centuries-old game of cat and mouse drives the technological advancements in the ongoing race to conquer the undersea realms. Today, enhanced capability in both anti-submarine and anti-surface technology is transforming anti-submarine warfare, known as ASW. Modern submarines are not only quieter than their ancestors, but they are also better equipped to deal with the threats that shadow them from above.
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To Create a Sustainable Future – Digitalize Offshore Energy
Surrounded by some of the world’s most productive seas, the U.K. generates more electricity from offshore wind than any other country. Developments over the last 12 months suggest a promising future for the U.K.’s leading green energy sector. In 2016, capital spending commitment reached recorded levels, and the cost of offshore electricity fell by nearly a third in four years. Alongside this prevailing success…
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Uncharted Depths: Exploring the Marianas with SuBastian
A crescent shaped scar on the earth’s crust marks the location of the deepest known part of the world’s ocean. With some areas reaching depths more than 36,000 feet, scientists rely on a range of pioneering deep-sea technologies to survey the unexplored regions of the Mariana Trench. In 1987, the submersible Alvin was the first to visit the nearby Mariana Back-arc, a zone of highly active submarine volcanism and hydrothermal vents hidden 13,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
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All Hands on Deck: ROVs and AUVs Aid Search for Franklin
Marine and subsea unmanned vehicle technology is playing an increasingly greater role in underwater archaeology, including the search for the historic shipwreck Franklin. For centuries, the ever-changing sea ice of the Northwest Passage made the route through the Arctic Ocean unpredictable and, on occasions, virtually impassable. Yet, since the 1500s the promise of connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans…
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Brexit: What’s in Store for the Subsea Sector?
The UK subsea industry has grown by 40% over the past three years and now holds almost half of the global market. The EU referendum has plunged the industry into uncertainty and the UK must now wait to see how June’s historic vote shapes the future of one of its fastest growing sectors. The interconnected nature of subsea, renewables and offshore activities makes predicting impacts even more difficult as the market attempts to understand the challenges, and possible opportunities, ahead.
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Methane: The Arctic's Buried Treasure
Trapped beneath permafrost and ocean sediments, the release of the world’s largest natural gas resource, methane, has become a hot topic for international research. As rising temperatures continue to warm the Arctic region, the vast frozen fields of gas, known as gas hydrates, grow unstable beneath the retreating ice. The Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment, and Climate (CAGE) strives to address…
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Exploring Alien Oceans with AUVs
Shielded by a thick, brittle ice surface, a vast warm ocean hides beneath. Scientists consider Jupiter’s smallest moon, Europa, to be the most promising for alien life and have set in motion multiple concept ventures to design an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) which could successfully explore this remote, off-world environment. Many Europa-bound missions are yet to come to fruition and prove the feasibility of this ambitious and complex task, until now.
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A United Front in Ocean Observation
As the world’s oceans become increasingly exposed to rapidly growing pressures, long-term data sets are fundamental for monitoring these processes and understanding the complex and vast oceanic environment. In July 2016, the European Marine Board (EMB), a partnership of major national marine and oceanographic institutes in Europe, identified critical gaps within ocean observation and seafloor mapping capabilities.
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Halls of Higher Learning
The subsea industry and the institutes, institutions, universities and colleges are inextricably linked. Picking just five to feature in our MTR100 was no easy feat, but our U.K.-based contributor Kira Coley, as always, gave it her best shot. No. Since 1903, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has evolved into one of the world’s most influential centers for marine biology, ocean, atmospheric and earth research.
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Echo Voyager: New Frontiers in Unmanned Technology
Subsea technology has begun to change the way we explore, manage and defend the marine environment. Fleets of unmanned vehicles will create sensor networks above and below the ocean’s surface and the ever-involving capabilities of these systems promise a future of robotic workforces completing dozens of complex tasks in challenging and dynamic marine environments. This will be especially vital in undersea…
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Offshore Innovation in Motion
Last year, a record $376 billion was invested in the U.K.’s renewable energy sector. With the U.K. Governments 2020 renewable energy target approaching, the race is well underway to shape the future of the industry through innovative solutions which offer long-term promise in both power efficiency and affordability. Described by some as the most exciting new development in renewable energy since the invention of the solar panel…
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Evolution of Ocean Exploration: Mapping the Seafloor with Geodesy
The evolution of ocean exploration continues with seafloor mapping with Geodesy. In an age where the surface of Mercury and Mars can be mapped in great detail, it’s difficult to imagine how around 85-95 percent of our ocean floor remain enigmatic. While advanced sonar technology has allowed ships to create highly detailed topographic maps, it would take 125-200 ship-years to survey the deep oceans alone, costing billions of dollars.
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SUPR-REMUS: The Next Generation of Plankton Sampling
A vast number of marine animals live a sedentary existence or with limited mobility as adults. For these individuals, it is the dispersal of larvae that determines the settlement of future populations and the structure of ecological communities. Plankton research is hindered by observational difficulties, as traditional sampling methods fail to identify fine-scale distributions while accounting for changes in environmental gradients.
February 2023
