New Esri Ocean Industry Manager Takes the Helm

Drew Stephens Leads GIS for Ocean and Coastal Environments Industry. Esri has hired Drew Stephens to expand the market for GIS within the ocean industry. Esri, the world leader in GIS, has accelerated the development of its ocean technologies via the Esri Ocean GIS Initiative. As Esri's industry manager for ocean and coastal environments, Stephens will play a key role in this effort through his diverse background and GIS experience.

New Polar-Orbit Satellite Under NOAA Control

These satellites are critical for advanced warning of severe weather including tornado outbreaks, heavy snowfall, hurricanes, heat waves, floods, & wildfires. Data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite will continue to strengthen NOAA’s ability to predict severe weather days in advance. Suomi NPP data are also used to generate dozens of environmental data products, including measurements of clouds, vegetation, ocean color, and land and sea surface temperatures.

Maritime Defense Industry Specialist Joins Kraken Robotics' Board of Directors

Canada-based marine technology firm Kraken Robotics has appointed Bernard Mills to its board of directors, effective December 1, 2022. "Mr. Mills is an internationally experienced executive specializing in defense and critical infrastructure sectors. He will commence, also on December 1st, the role of CEO and Managing Director at Stelia North America, part of the Airbus Group and a leading manufacturer of composites and metallic structures for the aerospace industry…

Saipem Testing Hydrone-R Resident Vehicle

Italian services firm Saipem said it has started functional testing on its Hydrone-R underwater resident vehicle at Sonsub facilities in Venice.The advanced underwater intervention drone is being launched in water for a comprehensive qualification campaign that aims to test all components and subsystems, including the subsea docking base in a real subsea scenario, Saipem said.It was announced that endurance and qualification tests will be carried over several months in open sea…

Sea Trials Complete for FET Submarine Rescue Vehicle

Subsea vehicle maker Forum Energy Technologies (FET) has completed sea trials for its submarine rescue vehicle (SRV) ahead of its deployment for what FET said was "an Asia Pacific-based navy." For what is worth, the image of the SRV shared by FET, shows the Vietnamese flag painted on the side of the vehicle.According to FET, the sea trials tested the SRV’s capabilities to perform a variety of demanding operations, including deep dives, navigation, and mating with a target.

ADCPs & DVLs: Recent Tech Developments

All seagoers know the ocean moves. Some thrive on riding the wind and waves while some hang on and look for a rail downwind with a bit of green in their face. But measuring the movement of the water, or of objects through the water, is a key aspect of many ocean technologies and applications. It is possible to use a principle of sound waves called the Doppler effect to measure motion in water. A sound wave has a higher frequency, or pitch, when it moves to you than when it moves away.

iXblue, ThayerMahan in Unmanned Surface Vessel Pact

ThayerMahan, a company specializing in autonomous maritime security solutions has partnered up with iXblue, a company specializing in navigation, acoustic positioning, and underwater imaging.The two companies are teaming up to provide unmanned maritime and survey services using iXblue’s DriX Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) in North America as well as internationally.In a statement on Monday, the companies said that ThayerMahan’s expertise in maritime domain awareness…

Oi20: Set for London in March

Oceanology International prepares to mark its half-century in style: Oi London 2020 event builds upon a wealth of previous successes to herald a new chapter in ocean science and technologyMuch has (and hasn’t) changed in the half-century since Oceanology International staged its first, comparatively low-key event in the UK city of Brighton. The inaugural Oi expo attracted a small but dedicated band of 600 exhibitors and visitors…

Russian Icebreaker to Norway for Upgrade

Head engineer in the Sevmorgeo company, Yuri Kuzmin, confirms that the conventionally powered “Dikson” will spend 15 days in Kirkenes for the upgrade. Another icebreaker, the “Kapitan Dranitsyn” will undergo a similar upgrade in a yard in Murmansk, reports the 'Barents Observer'. While the “Kapitan Dranitsyn” will engage in mapping of the seabed in order to collect data on the extension of the Russian Arctic shelf…

Autonomous Robot Maps Ship Hulls for Mines

Algorithms enable robot to navigate and view propellers and other complex structures. For years, the U.S. Navy has employed human divers, equipped with sonar cameras, to search for underwater mines attached to ship hulls. The Navy has also trained dolphins and sea lions to search for bombs on and around vessels. While animals can cover a large area in a short amount of time, they are costly to train and care for, and don’t always perform as expected.

Industry's First Color Fishfinder by Lowrance

Lowrance, a world-leading brand in marine electronics since 1957 — announced today the newest additions to its Elite family of fishfinder and chartplotter products, the Elite-3x and Elite-3x All Season pack. The most affordable color fishfinder ever introduced, the new Elite-3x includes a dual-frequency 83/200 kHz Broadband SounderTM transducer and features an LED-backlit display with detailed 240x360-pixel resolution that’s easy to see in full sunlight from wide viewing angles.

Roboboat Competition: Embry-Liddle Boat Wins

Navigating a floating obstacle course with aplomb, an autonomous LiDAR-equipped boat from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University  captured first place overall at the 7th Annual International RoboBoat Competition in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Outfitted with Velodyne’s HDL-32E LiDAR sensor, the pilot-less Embry-Riddle vessel crossed the finish line ahead of the 12 other teams participating in the event…

Ocean Rig Orders Turnkey Kongsberg Simulator

Kongsberg Maritime says that Ocean Rig UDW Inc., a major international offshore drilling contractor, has chosen it to supply an extensive offshore and navigation simulator package for a brand new training centre. Kongsberg explains that Ocean Rig owns and operates two ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs and nine ultra-deepwater drill-ships (including three newbuilds for delivery 2014-2016).

Eserv Digitizes Neptune's Offshore Platforms

Oil and gas company on Tuesday announced Neptune Energy a new partnership with 3D technology specialist, Eserv, as part of the ongoing digitalization of Neptune’s assets including its operated Cygnus gas platform in the UK southern North Sea."Using 3D and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, a digital map of all three bridge-linked jackets was captured, enabling Neptune Energy to detect asset integrity issues early and plan fabric maintenance work on Cygnus…

'National Marine Technology Week' Date Set

Congressmen Farr and Young introduce a bi-partisan Congressional Resolution designating September 22, 2013 through September 28, 2013, as “National Marine Technology Week”. Resolution coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Marine Technology Society and OCEANS 2013 in San Diego. The Marine Technology Society is an international community of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers and educators…

Ocean Bottom Cable Installation: SAIC Choose Makai

SAIC has purchased two MakaiLay Seismic licenses and one MakaiPlan Pro Seismic license for use in their seismic oil and gas exploration projects. (SAIC owns and operates modularized cable engines and cable installation equipment together with  certified MakaiLay operators to install submarine cables worldwide. SAIC often leases vessels of opportunity in the project region with which they deploy the Ocean Bottom Cables (OBCs) or node arrays).

MTR100 '13 Woods Hole Group, Inc.

81 Technology Drive, East Falmouth, Mass., U.S. CEO/President:    Dennis B. Woods Hole Group contributes new technologies related to measuring and modeling the marine environment for a diverse client base. The company has proven the ability to evolve and sustain a business centered on the coastal and ocean zone for more than 25 years. WHG focuses on: Coastal Sciences, Engineering & Planning; Applied Ecology; and Oceanography and Measurement Systems.

Compact Bathymetry Sonar: NORBIT Choose NovAtel® SPAN®

NovAtel announce at the Oceanology International (Oi) China expo, that NORBIT has selected their Synchronized Position Attitude Navigation (SPAN) product for integration into the new NORBIT iWBMS Compact Bathymetry Sonar. They say that this combination of technologies produces integrated bathymetry solutions that are easy to operate and deliver previously unattainable miniaturization of the form factor.

NOAA Expands Water Level and Wave Dataset

The first modeled, historical water level and wave dataset for the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf coasts was released on January 13 by NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS).The dataset, known as Coastal Ocean Reanalysis (CORA), delivers more than 40 years of modeled, historical water level and wave information every 500 meters (roughly every quarter mile) along the U.S. coastline. This long-term water level data was previously only available at NOAA tide gauge locations…

Mini DVL Makes a Big Impression on Small ROVs

Underwater technology companies QYSEA and Water Linked have partnered up to equip QYSEA’s Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) with cutting edge underwater positioning sensors. The Water Linked A50 Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), touted as the world’s smallest DVL, will be the standard fit for QYSEA’s FIFISH V6 EXPERT, PRO V6 PLUS and PRO W6 ROVs moving forward.Following extensive evaluation of the A50 DVL, QYSEA placed an initial order for 10 units.