Second Meteorological Mast Installed at Dogger Bank

Offshore wind developer Forewind’s second of two planned meteorological masts was erected at Dogger Bank during the weekend using the innovative suction installed Bucket Foundation and a “human free” technique for the steel tower placement. The latest mast to be installed – Dogger Bank Met Mast West - will provide essential wind, wave and other weather information, as well as marine traffic data for the Dogger Bank offshore wind energy development.

SMD Improves 2013 Work Class ROV Range

SMD has been a leading manufacturer of subsea robotic systems since the 1980s. In 2003 SMD started manufacturing Work Class ROVs, a business that has grown steadily. SMD’s ROV division operates from a modern facility named “i19” in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. ROV sales, project managers, engineers and technicians are all located within the facility and the company has the ability to manufacture up to 48 Work Class ROV systems per year. SMD also has offices in Houston, Singapore and Macau.

NOAA Adjusts Hurricane Season Outlook Averages

NOAA is updating its baseline numbers used for gauging hurricane season activity using more recent storm data.Once every decade, the agency revises its set of statistics used to determine when hurricane seasons are above-, near- or below-average relative to the climate record. Beginning with this year’s hurricane season outlooks, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) will use 1991-2020 as the new 30-year period of record.

Fiber Optic Sensing and Mining an Ocean of Data

Fiber optic sensing is opening up vast new areas of research and data gathering potential, not least across our oceans, where existing cables could offer a new global sensing network. Elaine Maslin reports.Criss crossing between our nations, across channels and between continents are a multitude of cables – some 120 million km of them. Some are pretty old (the first international submarine cable was laid across the Channel, between the UK and France, in 1850).

Greensea, GRi Simulations Announce Partnership

Greensea Systems has partnered with GRi Simulations to develop a simulation environment for OPENSEA and OPENSEA-enabled control systems. The partners’ objective is to further develop virtual training standards that will provide operators, technicians, and other subject matter experts the experience and practice needed to be successful in critical subsea environments using OPENSEA control systems.Greensea…

James Fisher Subsea Excavation Brings MFE Tool to Market

Mass flow excavation business, James Fisher Subsea Excavation – part of James Fisher and Sons plc, has brought a powerful tool to the market to support clients with large scale excavations. The SP12000 produces more than 6 tonnes of thrust at full power and a significant volume output of 12,000 liters of water per second, making it ideal for large seabed preparation projects, sandwave clearances, freespan rectifications and large diameter pipeline trenching.

NOAA Engineers a Better Current Sensor for Mariners

Navigating into seaports is now safer and more efficient for mariners thanks to improved NOAA technology that ships rely on to give them information about currents. The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) developed a more reliable, cost-saving version of a current sensor system that can now be placed at more remote locations along navigation channels. The updated Acoustic…

What's In Store for 2021? More Remote, More Data, More Autonomy

Late 2018, before net-zero targets had been agreed to by most western energy giants and nations, BP came out with a goal to reach 100% of subsea inspection by marine autonomous systems by 2025.It was a tangible goal then, and it’s one that might now be reached faster as remote and more “digitally” oriented operations take hold with greater opportunities for new nimble players in the market. It’s a goal being chased in the offshore wind sector too.Some of it is about emissions targets.

Concerns for Deep Sea Ecosystems Heighten as US Opens Opportunities For Mining and Extraction

In the same week as the US Government moved to accelerate offshore mining and open new opportunities for mineral extraction, a new reflection paper co-authored by PML Honorary Fellow Torsten Thiele urges the International Seabed Authority to declare a moratorium/precautionary pause on such activity.The paper, titled "Delivering Benefits to Humankind: Opportunities for the International Seabed Authority under a Deep-Sea Mining Moratorium…

New Survey Boat Launched for South African Navy

Paramount Maritime, a Paramount Group company, said it has launched the first of three next-generation Survey Motor Boats (SMBs) to the South African Navy in continued support of its programs to enhance the capabilities and infrastructure of the South African Navy Hydrographic Office (SANHO).In addition to the three Survey Motor Boats to be delivered to the South African Navy Hydrographic Office (SANHO)…

Winter Sea Ice in Bering Sea Reached Lowest Levels in Millennia

The Bering Sea ice cover during the winters of 2018 and 2019 hit new lows not seen in thousands of years, scientists reported on Wednesday, adding to concerns about the accelerating impact of climate change in the Arctic.Satellite data provides a clear picture of how sea ice has changed over the last four decades in the region between the Arctic and northern Pacific oceans. Beyond that, the only ice…

New CO2 Sensor Added to Seaglider

Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and their industry partners have advanced the technology available to measure carbon dioxide in the ocean.Their design, published in the journal Ocean Science, is now available to the scientific community.During the past six years, a team from the UAF International Arctic Research Center and private companies developed a way to equip an unmanned, underwater vehicle called a Seaglider with a sensor that monitors carbon dioxide.

What We Need to Know About Telecommunications Cable Protection

This week at Marine Technology News...No subsea telecommunications cable can be guarded all the time.In response to the most recent suspicious severing of telecommunications cables in the Baltic, NATO's Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation in Italy launched software that will combine private and military data along with input from hydrophones, radars, satellites, vessels' Automatic Identification…

Kraken Secures New Subsea Batteries, Sonar Contracts and $1.5M Funding

Canadian subsea technology company Kraken Robotics on Thursday announced new contracts for subsea batteries and synthetic aperture sonar and new funding support totaling $2.2 million.Kraken has received new orders totaling $0.7 million and funding awards for $1.5 million. The company said that it couldn't provide info on customers and clients due to confidentiality reasons. However, it did provide some color.Kraken said that an existing U.S.

New Undersea Cable to Link Iceland to Europe

A new high-speed undersea cable system will soon connect Iceland and Ireland, improving the diversity of adequate connections to support the continued growth of Iceland’s modern community and international business environment.SubCom and Farice ehf today announced that a contract is in force to supply and install the cable system, which is expected to be ready for service by the end of 2022.Farice…

New Data System for Malaysian Navy

As the national hydrographic and charting authority in Malaysia, the Hydrographic Directorate of the Royal Malaysian Navy (HDRMN) has a mandate to collect measurements using modern techniques, and provide adequate and timely hydrographic information to support safety of navigation, national development, defense and security, and numerous other activities related to the use of Malaysia’s marine environment.

Atlantic Canada Profiles: Agile Sensor Technologies

Agile Sensor Technologies, a manufacturer of intelligent robotic components based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, has launched its new performance monitoring multi-motor controller Synapse. Developed for industrial and military UAVs, Synapse advances beyond traditional electronic speed controllers (ESCs) to offer flight data recording, real-time propulsion system feedback, faster controller response time, and the ability to increase flight time by approximately 10%.

Mapping the Ikaite Columns of the Ikka Fjord, SW Greenland

Ikka Fjord in SW Greenland is the only known place in the World where the rare carbonate mineral ‘Ikaite’ (named after the fjord) is found in the form or large column structures, as opposed to its usual small crystal form. Over the past 25 years there has been an intensive scientific effort to try and understand why the mineral forms here and in such dramatic form.Ikaite is found in areas outside of the Fjord…

Exploring Under The ice (& Keeping your AUV in one piece)

December 2019 marked the one-year anniversary since University of Tasmania sent ISE built AUV nupiri muka to Antarctica as part of the Antarctica Gateway Partnership. While there it successfully completed many survey missions under the Sørsdal glacier. What better way to celebrate this accomplishment than to send it back for a victory lap this year!Under ice missions can be notoriously difficult, and…

Subsea Tech's 'March of Miniaturization'

A growing battalion of small, compact systems is marching in on the subsea world, in some ways making it a bigger space for more to enter. Elaine Maslin reports.Smaller remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and smaller autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are growing in number and in turn driving smaller technologies that support them. The result is a few new kids on the block and what you could call…