Study of Subsea Volcanoes Aims to Improve Event Forecasting
Scientists from the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have led an international team on an expedition in and around Santorini, Greece, to enhance forecasting ability for subsea volcanic eruptions.Hundreds of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth are found in the ocean, but almost none are monitored, making the hazards for nearby coastal communities and critical infrastructure difficult to forecast.In the ocean, the explosivity of eruptions is complicated by interactions with seawater and fluids circulating through volcanoes, making them even more unpredictable.Using advanced underwater
Kongsberg Discovery Technology Sets Sail On One Ocean Expedition Research Voyage
Kongsberg Discovery has helped transform the 111-year-old, three-masted sailing ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl into a research vessel for the upcoming One Ocean Expedition, departing from Bergen, Norway, on 11 April.The almost 100-metre-long vessel, Norway’s largest sailing ship, has been fitted with an array of Kongsberg Discovery technology to help scientists monitor and understand unique ocean environments, including the waters of the legendary Northwest Passage.Onboard systems now include 75 and 300 kHz ADCPs, EK80 Echo Sounders, an advanced hydrophone cluster, and the Seapath GNSS-aided inertial
Kongsberg Discovery Launches Digital “Librarian”
processing and in-depth data analysis.Early adopters have already been testing Geomatics, with the solution now being rolled out to several research vessels, including R/V Anna Weber-van Bosse, operated by NIOZ, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and Statsraad Lehmkuhl for the One Ocean Expedition (OOE).Commenting on the latter, Geir Pedersen, Researcher and Member of OOE’s Scientific Committee, explains: “The One Ocean Expedition is once again setting sail and will be relying on Geomatics to catalogue the vast quantity of scientific data we collect with Statsraad Lehmkuhl. It&rsquo
Mission Underway to Investigate Legacy Munitions in the Baltic Sea
under water.Three major projects at national, Baltic Sea and European levels are currently working to consolidate existing knowledge and develop technologies to safely identify submerged munitions. GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel is contributing to these efforts with three Baltic Sea expeditions.The first mission has now begun: the research vessel Alkor is being used to develop mapping and analysis techniques in German and Danish waters, with a particular focus on the sea areas at the exit of the Flensburg Fjord / Lille Belt, west of Bornholm and the Bay of Lübeck.Expedition AL628
Study of Newly Exposed Sea Floor Reveals Flourishing Ecosystems
of Chicago, named A-84, broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet. The team reached the newly exposed seafloor on January 25 and became the first to investigate an area that had never before been accessible to humans.The expedition was the first detailed, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary study of the geology, physical oceanography, and biology beneath such a large area once covered by a floating ice shelf. The ice that calved was approximately 510 square kilometers (209 square miles), revealing an equivalent area of seafloor
REV Ocean Finds Ship Management Partner for New Expedition Vessel
V.Ships, part of V.Group, will partner up with REV Ocean to provide a suite of ship management services for the REV Ocean vessel, deemed the world’s largest and most advanced research and expedition ship.Currently at Vard Søviknes in Norway, the vessel will be equipped to conduct research across the entire marine ecosystem, using advanced technology systems.Scientists and other experts will use it for research expeditions, seeking to solve issues related to the impact of CO2 emissions, plastic pollution, and unsustainable fishing on the ocean.The vessel is constructed to run on diesel-elect
Schmidt Ocean Institute Successfully Concludes Inaugural Antarctic Expedition
After a year of preparing the ship and crew, Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) has completed its first science expedition to Antarctica. The three-week expedition, which ended in early January, was ambitious in its science scope and required operational refinements to navigate safely in unfamiliar environmental conditions.“Operating our ship in the Southern Ocean marks a significant milestone in Schmidt Ocean Institute’s history,” said Eric King, senior director of maritime infrastructure. “R/V Falkor (too) performed exceptionally well
Research Vessel Discovery and "The Night of Monster Waves"
by climate change, understanding extreme weather and ocean events becomes even more critical. Rising sea temperatures and changing wind patterns could lead to more frequent and intense storms, making our work to predict and mitigate their impacts all the more urgent.”*The RRS Discovery on that expedition, the predecessor to today’s RRS Discovery, had been built in 1962, refitted in 1992 and retired in 2012. The ship was replaced by the current RRS Discovery in 2013.Source: NOCThe crew after the storm. Image courtesy NO
Canadian Shipwreck Hunters Unleash New Tech
has dedicated countless hours to mapping shipwrecks using multibeam echosounders in the unpredictable environment of the Grand Banks. However, precision in locating and identifying these submerged targets is a persistent challenge, especially due to the unique conditions the pair face on their regular expeditions.Despite equipping ‘Best Kind’, Sid’s Farmont 70 expedition yacht with a multibeam made by Aukland, New Zealand-based manufacturer WASSP, he found room for improvement when in order to reach the level of detail required for distinguishing remnants of wooden shipwrecks, many of
February 2025
