Ocean Gliders: The New Storm Chasers
Unmanned ocean gliders go deep to help improve hurricane forecastsA fleet of 15 autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), or gliders, will be deployed to collect important ocean data in the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean that could prove useful to forecasters this hurricane season.NOAA, the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System and university partners will begin deploying the torpedo-shaped, remotely-operated, battery-powered gliders from vessels off Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in mid-July. Ten of the gliders will come from the U.S. Navy, and the others from NOAA.The gliders will
Deepwater Survey Completed in Working Oilfield
Fairfield Geotechnologies completes Gulf of Mexico Ocean Bottom Node surveyFairfield Geotechnologies announces the successful completion in May 2018 of the Stampede deepwater ocean bottom node survey, located in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico. The field, operated by the Hess Corporation, is in approximately 3,500 ft. of water. The 238 km2 survey was the second successful deployment of Fairfield Geotechnologies’ ZXPLR system. ZXPLR is the newest generation of ocean bottom node technology and features a compact design, automated back deck systems, and powered and
Moog Focal Rolls Out New Fluid Rotary Union
Moog Focal has unveiled its latest Pneumatic and Hydraulic Fluid Rotary Union (FRU). The Model 810 FRU is designed for industrial and marine applications where multiple fluid passes need to be transferred across a rotational interface. There are a number of design options, depending on the application. The standard Model 810 FRU is available with two or four threaded ports of size 1/2 or 3/4 inch. A 1/2 inch on-axis bore enables easy integration with an electrical slip ring, fiber optic rotary joint or both.The Model 810 utilizes sealed-for-life rolling element bearings, ideal for long endurance
N-Sea Hires van Peet as Survey Lead
U.K.- and Netherlands-based subsea provider N-Sea has appointed Hans van Peet as the company’s survey authority.Hans van Peet, who joins the organization from Heerema Marine Contractors, brings more than 30 years of specialist experience in survey, positioning and ROV intervention to the role. He previously led subsea services for a variety of leading offshore companies, including the technical management of major frame agreements for ROV and survey and positioning services.Based in the Netherlands, van Peet will be responsible for overseeing all survey activities within N-Sea, as well as
RRS Sir David Attenborough Launched
The hull of the U.K.’s new polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough was launched from Cammell Laird shipyard Saturday, marking a major milestone toward the completion of one of the world’s most advanced scientific maritime vessels.Shipyard workers, engineers, scientists and maritime industry experts were among thousands who gathered to celebrate the launch along with special guest speakers, including renowned naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, who pressed the launch button together with British Antarctic Survey Director Professor Dame Jane Francis.Once in the River
Soundnine XTP Sensors Deployed on Polar Buoy
An experimental drifting buoy equipped with eXpendable Temperature and Pressure (XTP) sensors from Soundnine Inc. was deployed for the UpTempo project. The UpTempO project, headed by Dr. Mike Steele of the University of Washington, Polar Science Center, uses inexpensive buoys to measure the Upper layer Temperature of the Polar Oceans. The buoy was deployed in northern Hudson bay on June 14, 2018 by Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. It transmits real-time temperature and conductivity data to 25 meters deep, enabling scientists to measure the rate of surface warming as Arctic sea ice
Symbiotic Autonomy for Deep Water Survey
Marine technology partners have developed a new long endurance, multi-vehicle, autonomous survey solution.ASV Global (ASV), in partnership with Sonardyne International Ltd., the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and SeeByte, have delivered a long endurance, multi-vehicle, autonomous survey solution after a two-week trial in Scotland’s Loch Ness. The tests were the culmination of the three-year ‘Autonomous Surface and Sub-surface Survey System’ collaborative project, part-funded by Innovate UK and Dstl, which set out to produce an integrated system to perform low cost, full water
Fairfield Geotechnologies Wins GoM Survey Contract
Fairfield Geotechnologies said it has been awarded a contract by BHP to acquire up to 1,004 sq. miles of ocean bottom node seismic data in the Alaminos Canyon and East Breaks areas of the Western Gulf of Mexico. The survey, located in water depths ranging from 2,500 to 7,250 ft., will employ two seismic source vessels and Fairfield Geotechnologies’ newest ocean bottom node technology, ZXPLR.The survey design will deliver high quality seismic data for imaging, as well as provide the long offset, full azimuth data necessary for high-resolution velocity model building to enhance existing reflection
Closed Bell Diving Courses Relaunched at The Underwater Centre
A subsea training and trials center has become the world’s only commercial diving school to offer a closed bell saturation diving system with a self-propelled hyperbaric lifeboat (SPHL), following a major refurbishment.Thanks to significant investment and support from the global oil and gas sector, The Underwater Centre relaunched its three-week closed bell diving course in June. The first course was fully subscribed and applications are open for future courses.Subsea 7 and TechnipFMC have provided technical support, site supervision and conducted the refurbishment work on behalf of The Underwater
Possible Meteorite Fragments Found in Marine Sanctuary
tsunami.A group of scientists from NOAA, NASA and the Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) working with the 64-meter research vessel E/V Nautilus used an EM302 multibeam sounder and subbottom profiler to first map the site of impact, and then recover parts of the meteorite with the help of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of diving to depths unreachable by human divers. The meteorite debris field was found about 16 miles offshore, lodged in the seafloor's mud and sand, in waters about 350 feet deep.Dr. Marc Fries, NASA’s curator of cosmic dust, said the search – which included the use
High-tech Sensors Advance Tsunami Monitoring
Accurate and long-term measurements of sea level, tidal harmonics and tsunami activity are a growing requirement to address global coastal developments and risk mitigation programs. Real-time tsunami monitoring and warning systems are being developed to save lives, model wave propagation and quantify coastal hazards.The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) has recently taken delivery of five new RBRquartz³ BPRs (bottom pressure recorders) from oceanographic instrumentation manufacturer RBR for a long-term research program with the Insitu Marine Laboratory for Geosystems Research (iMARL).
Defense Research and Development Canada Upgrades its AUV
Defense’s (DND) science and technology organization, Defense Research and Development Canada (DRDC), under the Built in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP).The systems, which are supplied with a specialized Subsea Processing Unit (SPU), will be installed on a shallow-water IVER Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and a 5,000m depth-rated ISE Explorer AUV.The SCM system works by running a simple AUV calibration routine at the beginning of the mission and using it to compute a suite of coefficients that can correct the data in real-time. The software then outputs the raw magnetic vectors and total field
Houlder Joins Sir David Attenborough Celebrations
Naval architect and marine engineering firm Houlder has played a key role in the development of the U.K.’s new polar research vessel, RRS Sir David Attenborough, since it was first conceived by the British Antarctic Survey.CEO Rupert Hare will join members of the project team as hull number 1390, comprising 10,000t of steel, is launched at Cammell Laird Shipyard on July 14.As experts in ship construction, and ice class design in particular, Houlder worked with the British Antarctic Survey and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) initially through the vessel’s concept design and
Ocean Robots Gather Live Data from Volcano Lava Flow
Two high-tech autonomous ocean robots have been deployed to capture live ocean data close to where lava is flowing into the ocean from Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano.By using Liquid Robotics’ unmanned Wave Gliders, scientists have the rare opportunity to study the effects of the lava entering the ocean, the plume it creates and the interactions of the lava and seawater directly from the surface of the ocean. Scientists note that very few volcanic eruptions and lava flows have ever been monitored in real time from the ocean.Over a three-week mission, the long-duration wave and solar powered Wave
M2 Subsea Secures $13.3 Mln in Projects
Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services provider M2 Subsea said it has secured contracts worth more than £10 million ($13.3 million) over the past six months.The company, which has bases in Aberdeen and Houston, has conducted more than 10 projects across the oil and gas and renewable markets. M2 Subsea’s fleet of ROVs have been mobilized across the globe for contracts in the North Sea, Southern North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, India and the Middle East with workscopes ranging from inspection surveys to leak detection studies.Building on several renewable projects in 2017, the firm also secured
Oceanscan Invests in Sonardyne Acoustics
ideal for nearshore operations being run from vessels of opportunity and for construction barges that need survey grade positioning performance, without the cost and complexity of a deep water USBL system. Oceanscan’s new Mini-Ranger 2 systems are likely to be employed tracking remote operated vehicles (ROVs), side scan sonars and magnetometers for use in offshore wind construction, including unexploded ordnance (UXO) survey and debris clearance
Barge Master 3D Motion Compensated Crane for Wagenborg
Wagenborg awarded Barge Master a contract for a second 3D motion compensated crane for its new walk-to-work vessel Kasteelborg. The first motion compensated crane on the Kroonborg has increased the workability from approximately 180 to 330 days per year. “The crane works quite happily in three meter seas,” said Haije Stigter, former program manager at ONEgas/Shell, notes - adding that it “works like a dream.”The Barge Master Crane, as configured for the Kroonborg, makes it possible to continue safe and stable crane operations even in the North Sea’s famously rough condition
Divers, Underwater Drone Searching for 192 Missing in Ferry Disaster
vessel came to rest in the lake, which is 450 m (1,500 feet) deep."We have the coordinates from when it sank, but we need to verify them," said Budiawan, a search and rescue official.A team of 25 divers, including marines, was searching for the vessel, along with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) that can operate up to a depth of 380 m (1,247 ft), he added.The first team of divers encountered poor visibility and freezing cold when it got to a depth of 50 meters (164 ft), said Muhammad Syaugi, head of the national search and rescue agency.Rescue teams in boats carrying GPS devices,
EPA Launches Research Vessel to Monitor Lake Ontario
fish. Smaller research boats will focus on near-shore activities such as evaluating nutrients and mussels, as well as performing algae research and diver surveys. The agencies will be using sophisticated equipment such as underwater cameras, satellite imagery, robotic gliders and underwater unmanned vehicles to better characterize and document the lake’s ecosystem.Once the year-long monitoring program on Lake Ontario is completed, a summary report of their findings will be available for public review.“We are fully dedicated to ensuring the health of Lake Ontario and all of the Great Lakes
Navy Tests Scale Models in Big Facilities
,” said Mike Brown, head of Carderock’s Naval Architecture and Engineering Department. “This helps us to characterize and predict the performance of our platforms.”Carderock’s campus along the Potomac River houses the tow tank to test surface ship, submarine and unmanned vehicle models, as well as the 240 x 360 foot wave making maneuvering and seakeeping (MASK) basin, which can generate any kind of wave and wave pattern that occurs anywhere in the world, as well as waves that don’t occur naturally, in a controllable and repeatable environment.Detailed radio-controlled
Satellite Derived Bathymetry Aids Hydrocarbon Exploration
U.K. based marine geospatial products provider TCarta said it has delivered satellite derived bathymetry (SDB) to one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers, Total SA, who will use the water depth data for preparing seismic survey works off the coast of Myanmar.The SDB dataset, which covered a 30-square-kilometer area around Preparis Island in the Bay of Bengal, was generated by digitally extracting water depth measurements from multispectral imagery acquired by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite. The resulting bathymetric data had a point spacing of 10 meters with
Kraken Appoints Dillon as Chief Scientist
using a high resolution multi-frequency Doppler current profiler that is used for measuring turbulence and sediment transport in the ocean bottom boundary layer.Dr. Dillon continues to have strong interests in acoustics, synthetic aperture imaging, GPU-accelerated computing, underwater navigation and vehicle control systems. His upcoming work will apply machine learning to further improve seabed imagery and to automatically recognize targets and other objects of interest on the seabed
Kraken AUV Prequalified for Canada’s BCIP
The Canadian Government has notified Kraken Robotics Inc. subsidiary, Kraken Robotic Systems Inc., that its Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP) application has been approved. The company has been prequalified into the program for its ThunderFish 300 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for military and scientific applications. Karl Kenny, Kraken’s President and CEO, said, "We are proud to have achieved prequalification status with the BCIP. This is yet another significant milestone in Kraken’s evolution to becoming a vertically integrated underwater robotics company.” T
Greensea Aids Historical Shipwreck Discoveries
OPENSEA operating platform provides a unified, integrated system and supervised autonomy to R/V Petrel’s ROV with cutting-edge features such as automated ascent and descent winch control system, synchronized pilot and co-pilot chairs, integrated system control touchscreen displays, and a multi-vehicle user interface. Since launching Petrel, Allen’s underwater research team has discovered more than a dozen lost naval ships, including the USS Indianapolis, USS Ward, USS Cooper and several Japanese warships. The two recent discoveries of WWII ships USS Lexington and USS Juneau, have
The World’s Largest Ocean Garbage Patch is Growing Rapidly
The world’s largest heap of ocean garbage is growing at an alarming rate. The 600,000-square-mile collection of ocean plastic and trash floating halfway between California and Hawaii known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch now contains four to 16 times more plastic than previously estimated, with pollution levels increasing exponentially, new analysis reveals. It’s estimated some 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 metric tons are currently afloat in the area, and it is rapidly getting worse, according to a study published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal
