MBARI Names Kaya Johnson Director of Marine Operations
MBARI recently welcomed Kaya Johnson as its new director of marine operations, tasked with overseeing the institute’s seagoing assets, including three research vessels, a deep-sea cabled observatory and fleet of advanced underwater robots.Johnson comes to MBARI from Oregon State University (OSU), where he worked for the past six years. Johnson was port captain at OSU, then served as marine superintendent of ship operations. He managed operations for OSU’s fleet of three research vessels—Elakha, Oceanus (retired in November 2021) and Pacific Storm.Prior to his tenure at OSU, Johnson
All American Marine to Build Research Vessel for Cal Poly Humboldt
aluminum catamaran that was developed by Nic de Waal of Teknicraft Design in Auckland, New Zealand. The vessel will be inspected to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Subchapter T standards and will operate as a multipurpose research vessel in the Near Coastal Waters of Northern California and Oregon, as well as Offshore on Ocean Routes. The vessel integrates the signature Teknicraft Design symmetrical and asymmetrical combined hull shape, bow wave piercer, and a patented dynamic hydrofoil-assisted hull design. The hull and hull components are designed to break up wave action and ensure
Not All Underwater Reefs are Made of Coral
structures specifically for use as artificial reefs.Planes, trains and automobilesFor our study, we gathered records of intentional reefings dating back to 1899 and occurring off artificial all U.S. coastal states, except for six without artificial ocean reef programs: Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.For some of these events, especially in recent decades, there were detailed records of the sizes and quantities of sunken objects or seafloor maps from which we could derive these measurements. These reefs were easy to quantify.Other records, including some from the early 20th
US Awards $6.7 Million for Sea Level Rise and Coastal Resilience Research
of the eight new projects are funded under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which will allow NOAA to help communities prepare for, adapt to and build resilience to changing climate conditions.New ESLR projects selected for funding include:Oregon State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory received $500,000 to evaluate tradeoffs between gray and green infrastructure approaches for flood risk reduction for two estuaries in the Pacific Northwest.(IRA-funded) Oregon State University received $500,000 to assess the environmental
18 Ocean Experts Named to Federal Panel
Ostrander, Marine Technology SocietyClaire B. Paris-Limouzy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric & Earth Science, University of MiamiPurnima Ratilal-Makris, Northeastern UniversityEdward Saade, Circum-Pacific Council; EJS SolutionsAna Spalding, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Oregon State UniversityAmy Trice, Northeast Regional Ocean CouncilMaria Tzortziou, The City College of New York, of the City University of New YorkViolet Sage Walker, Northern Chumash Tribal CouncilKawika Winter, Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai'iThe ORAP’s responsibilities
Bollinger Launches OSU's New Oceanographic Research Vessel
The first of three new oceanographic research vessels dedicated to advancing marine science along U.S. coasts was successfully launched Thursday.The ship, R/V Taani, is being constructed as part of a project, led by Oregon State University (OSU) and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), to provide scientists with valuable new tools to study critical issues such as rapidly changing ocean conditions and human impacts on the marine environment.The Regional Class Research Vessel project, supported by more than $390 million in grants, is charged with delivering three nearly identical ships
Floating Offshore Wind: New Seascape, New Challenges
wind energy planners are giving close review to fixed-tower systems in order to extend lessons learned to floating wind towers, under development now. In the U.S., floating towers have been most closely associated with plans for new wind energy areas (WEA) in the Pacific, off of California and maybe Oregon and Washington. But important research is also taking place in Maine, at the University of Maine, because of deep ocean Atlantic areas there, and floating towers may also be used in the Gulf of Mexico.As most readers likely know, floating wind energy turbines offer the chance to take advantage of
Nexans' Cables for US' First Grid-connected Wave Energy Test Facility
Nexans, a company specializing in making and installing power cables, has secured a contract for PacWave South, the United States' first grid-connected wave energy test facility.PacWave is a joint venture between the US Department of Energy, the State of Oregon, and Oregon State University and will facilitate the research of innovative renewable technologies.PacWave South consists of four berths that capture the energy generated by the movement of waves, and each berth will produce up to 5 MW of electricity.RT Casey LLC has selected Nexansto to provide the four medium voltage AC (MVAC) cables
New Survey Vessel Delivered to USACE Portland Distric
and christening ceremony in Newport, Ore., on January 11.The Beeman, whose name honors the legacy of Ogden Beeman, chief of the Portland District’s Waterways Navigation Branch from 1960-1967, replaces and continues the work of the district’s aging vessel, the Patterson, which surveyed Oregon’s coastal entrances for 22 years.“This is a vessel with a critical mission, as dredging and structural operations and maintenance can’t take place without the data it will collect,” said Karla Ellis, the Portland District’s chief of Waterways Maintenance. “It&rsquo
February 2024
