Saab’s Sabertooth On Display Alongside First 3D Model of Endurance
exhibition July 10-13, following its contribution to the first-ever full 3D mapping of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance.The exhibition marks the first public unveiling of a 3D-printed model of Endurance, created using ultra-high-resolution imagery and laser data captured during the Endurance 22 expedition. Working in collaboration with expert partners, Sabertooth operated 3,000 meters below Antarctic ice to help scan the wreck in remarkable detail and bring the vessel back into public view.Sabertooth’s advanced autonomy, endurance and manuverability were essential to the expedition’s
New AUV Helps Document Critical Minerals
Cooperative Institute (OECI), based at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).As part of a larger expedition to expand knowledge of the seafloor, the OECI partnered with Orpheus Ocean to field-test their new AUV east of the Mariana Trench. The AUV successfully completed several dives to depths exceeding 5,600 meters (3.5 miles), including imaging polymetallic nodules on the seafloor.Orpheus technology
Scientists Replicate Prehistoric Seafaring with Primitive Canoe
puzzled over how they could do this with the rudimentary technology of the time - no maps, no metal tools and only primitive vessels. And the Kuroshio current, comparable in strength to the Gulf Stream off Mexico, presented a particular challenge.The research was in the vein of the famous 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition in which Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl carried out a much longer journey by raft from South America across the Pacific to the Polynesian islands. Heyerdahl aimed to show how prehistoric people from the Americas could have colonized Polynesia."His theory is now countered by a series of
MBARI Research Supports Cryospheric Science
Sample Processor (ESP) and Filtering Instrument for DNA Observations (FIDO) allow researchers to collect and study eDNA in remote environments. Earlier this year, MBARI, in collaboration with the Australian Antarctic Program, sent ESP and FIDO instruments on the research icebreaker Nuyina on an expedition to the Denman Glacier region in East Antarctica to evaluate applications for this eDNA technology in the Southern Ocean
The Ocean Cleanup: Call for Sailors to Take Part in Plastic Research
The Ocean Cleanup is calling on sailors out in the Pacific, anywhere between California and Hawaii this summer, to take part in its research expedition to help map plastic in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).This summer, the Dutch non-profit is looking to track the patch, the world’s largest accumulation of floating plastic, using AI technology so they can clean it more efficiently in the future.Sailors willing to fit the AI cameras and use GPS trackers on their leisure trips or during regattas can advance understanding of the patch’s composition to help future cleanup efforts.
URI Research Seeks to Learn About Deep Sea Organisms
pictures with shadows to capture the internal structure of the animals, which will help with taxonomic classification of new species.While the project is in the conceptual planning stage, Phillips expects to have a working prototype in the laboratory by this winter. According to Phillips, the first expedition is likely to be in late 2026, somewhere in the South Atlantic Ocean
John Siddorn, CEO, National Oceanography Center
recent voyage in the Mediterranean, for example, focused on seismic activity and gravity waves within an underwater volcanic caldera. Such missions are crucial for monitoring geohazards that threaten subsea infrastructure, including the world’s expanding network of critical data cables. Another expedition in the mid-Atlantic examined the mechanisms by which carbon is sequestered into the deep ocean—a key process in understanding and mitigating global climate change.“These are not academic exercises,” Siddorn notes. “They underpin our understanding of global systems that affect
NOC Expedition Marks 40 Years of Abyssal Science Project
A scientific expedition led by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) will mark four decades of cutting-edge science at one of the world’s deep ocean scientific research sites this summer.Setting sail today (May 30), from Southampton, onboard the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Cook, this intensive, 25-day expedition will focus on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO), 800 km from Land’s End in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.Started in 1985, at 4,850 m depth, it is the world’s longest running time series of life on an abyssal plain-–areas of flat
NOC Awarded $3.5m to Explore Expanding Ocean Desertification
climate change models and improve predictions of how marine ecosystems respond to environmental changes," said Benavides. "Ultimately, this project could offer new insights into mitigating climate change’s impact on our oceans."As part of the project, researchers will conduct two expeditions aboard the R/V Marion Dufresne. These expeditions will bring together experts in biogeochemistry, microbiology, physical oceanography and ocean engineering to collect critical data from the Indian Ocean.The project will also involve the deployment of innovative, advanced automated ocean observing
February 2025
