U.S. Coast Guard Counters Maritime Threats With New Special Missions Command
like the remote polar regions.National Strike Force provides trained technical experts and specialized equipment to Coast Guard and other federal agencies to prepare for and respond to the most complex crises and natural disasters, including oil, hazardous substances, and chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear incidents. The force, comprised of three strike teams, an incident management assist team, and the public information assist team supports federal on-scene coordinators and incident commanders, and is poised for immediate response across the nation and globally. Additional units
Lineup Ocean’s SURFREEF Project in Palavas-les-Flots
sea and clear water conditions.The YellowScan Navigator mounted on a DJI M600 before the mission. © YellowScanBathymetric LiDAR uses green laser pulses. These enable the measurement of the distance from the water’s surface to the seabed. From a flying platform, a laser scanner emits green radiation that passes through the water and is reflected on the bottom of the seabed. The laser scanner collects the reflected radiation of the pulse and calculates the time elapsed between the emission and reception to obtain the distance to both the water surface and seabed. The maximum water depth that
Sonardyne's Fetch Positioning Technology to Support Deepsea Neutrino Detector
and ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrinos, their sources and their role in astro and particle physics."The P-ONE detector will involve the anchoring of a three-dimensional array of thousands of advanced optical sensors creating a vast detection grid. These will detect the faint light (Cherenkov radiation) created when high-energy neutrinos interact with water molecules. The P-One collaboration’s goal is to build a full detector array that would cover multiple square kilometers. The initial pilot array, and a potential future full array, will be connected into ONC's existing
Canadian Research Vessel Headed Home
with SBP) with KEL571 transducer• Sounding and Pinging Monitoring (SPM) Transducers - Airmar M175 12 kHz-B• Acoustic Release (AR) - Teledyne Benthos UTS-9400A with C270 transducer and DAT-916• Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) - AML Oceanographic MVP300-3400• Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) Sensors - Sea-Bird Scientific PAR 1000 m• Sub-Bottom Profiler (SBP) - Knudsen Chirp 3260 (shared with MDMS) with KELA5701 transducer• Scientific Temperature Measurement System (STMS) - Sea-Bird Scientific SBE 3
Bright Prospect: Blue Lasers for the Deep Sea
– possibilities that laser technology in particular can offer. Initial attempts, however, were not very successful. Early efforts to use conventional infrared (IR) lasers to cut structures during oil platform decommissioning proved only partially practical. The primary reason: infrared radiation (wavelength 1000 nm) is completely absorbed by water within just a few centimeters, resulting in significant energy loss. For subsea applications, IR laser cutting can therefore only be performed using an air nozzle or an air-filled chamber – a complex and cost-intensive process that also
Study: Low Sulfur Fuel Reduces Lightning, May Increase Temperatures
ice crystals and less frequent lightning,” Jin said.A similar drop in lightning strokes was detected along other busy shipping routes.According to Jin, sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere, emitted naturally or from human activities, have two major climatic impacts. “One is scattering solar radiation, causing a cooling effect on Earth’s climate,” Jin said. “The other is modifying cloud microphysical properties, such as cloud droplet size and cloud droplet number concentration. By changing clouds, they can also influence radiation.”Jin explained that once sulfate aerosols
Blue Water Surpasses 1000 Hours of Ocean-Based Testing
the ocean, rather than in a laboratory, Blue Water aimed to get closer to the full spectrum of challenges a ship encounters in the offshore maritime environment:- Continuous operations: Testing 7 days per week across 3 shifts per day.- Exposure to harsh environments: Saltwater corrosion, biofouling, UV radiation, vessel motion, and temperature extremes.- Varied load profiles: Designed to operate inside and outside of the engine’s optimal power rating.- Philosophy: Early Decisions Cast Long ShadowsBlue Water sees this 1,000-hour milestone as the first in many to come as they continue to test and challenge
X-Ray Devise Boosts Underwater Inspection Safety
imaging system that can immediately produce pictures of the interior of suspicious objects or check the integrity of infrastructure.“Until now, no practical underwater X-ray generator existed,” said ORNL’s Paul Groth. “Seeing inside submerged objects required a source of gamma radiation that posed safety risks for the diver and the marine environment,” and usually also caused delays for image processing on land.The innovation is being commercialized by industry partner The Sexton Corporation and won a 2025 R&D 100 Award for innovation.The new imaging platform, which
Rapid Loss of Antarctic Ice Might Signal Climate Tipping Point
and potentially irreversible than Arctic sea-ice loss," it said, referring to melting at the North Pole.Changes are having knock-on effects across the ecosystem that in some cases amplify one another, said Nerilie Abram, the study's lead author.A smaller ice sheet reflects less solar radiation, meaning the planet absorbs more warmth, and will probably accelerate a weakening of the Antarctic Overturning Circulation, an ocean-spanning current that distributes heat and nutrients and regulates weather.Loss of ice is increasingly harming wildlife including emperor penguins
February 2026
