NOC Scheduled for 31 Science Expeditions in 2023
The National Oceanography Center (NOC), home to RRS James Cook and RRS Discovery, is managing 31 global research missions in 2023.This will include missions to the Bay of Biscay where NOC’s Marine Autonomous Robotic Systems team will be trialling its fleet of AUV’s and gliders to test autonomous ocean research capabilities, an expedition to quantify deep sea ecosystem resilience in the Pacific, and a research mission to Norway to study the role nitrogen plays in Arctic biogeochemistry.Previous expeditions include the DY158 expedition which took place earlier this year and circumnavigated
Subsea Power Link Between Spain and France to Go Ahead Despite Cost Increase
French energy regulator CRE gave the go-ahead to a new cost-sharing deal between the two countries for a project first broached in 2017 after a sharp increase in its estimated cost.The 400-km-long (250-mile-long) cable spanning from Spain's northern coast to France's western coast through the Bay of Biscay is now estimated at a total cost of around 2.85 billion euros ($3.01 billion), above the initial estimate of 1.75 billion euros, CNMC said.The European Union will contribute at least 578 million euros towards the cost, it said.After discounting EU aid, the distribution of costs will be 54% for
Edward Heerema – Dutch Courage with Single-minded Focus
energy system any time soon, he does see it as a nice addition, including a fill-in work for Pioneering Spirit.Indeed, Pioneering Spirit completed its first offshore wind project last year, installing the Saint Nazaire offshore windfarm subsea station 2,100 ton topsides and 1,200 ton jacket, in the Bay of Biscay. This was using the vessel’s 5,000 ton tub-mounted Huisman crane, installed after the vessel entered service as a useful additional tool. The same crane has since installed the 3,870 ton Hollands Kust Zuid Alpha transformer station in the Dutch North Sea and will shortly install the Beta
Solar-powered Autonomous Vessel Crosses the Atlantic
as many success stories do, in the founder’s garage. Pieter-Jan Note assembled six friends from a variety of engineering backgrounds. They spent the next few years building, designing and writing software. “Our first crossing attempt in 2019 capsized during an unusually heavy storm in the Bay of Biscay,” Note said. “We learned a lot from that short journey, however, and used that knowledge to build Mahi Two.”The four-meter Mahi Two has a composite hull for strength, efficiency and durability. It is driven by a Torqeedo Cruise 2.0 pod drive which the team modified to rotate
SPACEWHALE: Space Tech, AI meet to Monitor Whales from the Heavans
algorithm trained in this way could subsequently recognise 23-metre-long fin whales and other whale species on satellite images.Initial trials of SPACEWHALE proved successful: in the Mediterranean Sea, the algorithm detected almost twice as many fin whales as a previous manual investigation. In the Bay of Biscay, the algorithm detected fin whales and three other whale species. SPACEWHALE successfully counted humpback whales off the Hawaiian and Southern Right Whales off the Argentinian coasts.“SPACEWHALE makes a significant contribution to marine conservation; artificial intelligence combined with
Salvors Survey Grande America Wreck
Seabed survey and ocean exploration company Ocean Infinity said it has conducted urgent subsea search, inspection and operations on the wreck of the MV Grande America, which sank in the Bay of Biscay on March 12.Grande America capsized and sunk last month after its cargo of containers and vehicles caught fire during a voyage from Hamburg to Casablanca.Having entered into an agreement with marine services and salvage company Ardent, Ocean Infinity deployed its fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to locate the wreck. The firm then used its remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) to conduct
Global Maritime to Support EU Wave Energy Project
costs, and ‘de-risk’ new technologies. As part of the project, Global Maritime will be responsible for providing mooring and risk management support to the 42 meter-tall spar type, wave energy converter (WEC) due to be operational in August 2016. The WEC will be based in the Bay of Biscay up to two nautical miles offshore in 85 meters of water. David Sutton, CEO of Global Maritime Consultancy & Engineering, said: “Wave and tidal energy is a tremendously important element of the future energy mix with the World Energy Council estimating that up to 10% of worldwide
Robots Help Map England’s Deepwater Canyons
the 200km canyon down to the size of an individual cold-water coral polyp, and will be used to inform the management of the only English Marine Conservation Zone in deep water. This ‘nested map’ is the result of a recent scientific expedition to the Whittard Canyon in the Bay of Biscay, led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). It works in a way not unlike a set of Russian dolls, with the most detailed map sitting within a larger scale one, which sits within a larger map still. Submarine canyons are some of the most complex deep-sea environments on this
Blue Whale Photographed in English Waters
on camera by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) on board the RRS James Cook. The huge mammal, twice as long as a double-decker bus, was spotted on August 24 approximately 400 kilometers southwest of Cornwall, over a deepsea canyon on the northern margin of the Bay of Biscay. the whale was photographed by Prof. Russell Wynn of the National Oceanography Centre, who said, “I was undertaking our daily marine mammal survey and enjoying watching up to seven Fin Whales around the ship, when the Blue Whale suddenly surfaced about a kilometer away. I had just
February 2024
