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.

Oi '22 Gains Traction for Live Exhibition in March

The organizers of Oceanology International (Oi), RX Global, have confirmed that the Oi 2022 event (ExCel London, March 15-17 2022) is perfectly positioned to capitalize on the opening up of business-to-business events in spring 2022. With bookings on par with the last pre-pandemic Oi in 2018, the eagerly anticipated event is set to put the uncertain times of the last two years behind us.“Bringing the…

MIT Studies Underwater Navigation Powered by Sound

New approach could spark an era of battery-free ocean exploration, with applications ranging from marine conservation to aquaculture.GPS isn’t waterproof. The navigation system depends on radio waves, which break down rapidly in liquids, including seawater. To track undersea objects like drones or whales, researchers rely on acoustic signaling. But devices that generate and send sound usually require batteries — bulky, short-lived batteries that need regular changing.

Mega Machine Deep Driller: JOIDES Resolution

The JOIDES Resolution embarks on Expedition 395 to understand the impacts of mantle plumes on deep ocean currentsThe world’s oceans, still largely unexplored, remain a treasure trove for scientists and researchers alike. Physical, chemical and biological features of the ocean interact with each other and in turn, influence oceanic, meteorological, atmospheric and even geological events. Drilling below…

Bayesian Yacht Disaster: How Specialist Search and Rescue Teams Work Underwater

Search and rescue for missing persons is always challenging for the specialist recovery teams involved, regardless of the environment they’re working in.But the teams looking for the missing aboard the Bayesian yacht which sank off the coast of Sicily leaving several people dead, have faced particularly challenging conditions. Even though the boat lies in relatively shallow water of 50 meters, underwater…

NOAA Taps Planet to Track Oil Spills, Marine Debris, And Marine Life

Satellite imagery company Planet is providing data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who are leveraging the company's PlanetScope and SkySat products to gain oceanic insights by evaluating oil spills, tracking marine debris, detecting vessels, and identifying large marine mammals like whales.In 2004, Hurricane Ivan caused severe damage in the Gulf of Mexico, including the collapse and sinking of an oil platform.

Brix Marine Delivers Research Vessel for Pacific Whale Foundation in Hawaii

Port Angeles, Wash.-based Brix Marine has delivered the Pacific Whale Foundation's new research vessel Kaiao, custom-built to support marine research, conservation and education.Founded in 1980 and based in Maui, Hawaii, the PWF is a nongovernmental organization that has been at the forefront of whale research and public education, striving to safeguard the marine environment and prevent the destruction…

NOAA to Award $28 Million to Tackle Marine Debris

The Department of Commerce and NOAA announced the availability of up to $28 million across two funding opportunities to address marine debris throughout the coastal U.S., Great Lakes, territories and Freely Associated States. These two Fiscal Year 2024 funding opportunities are part of NOAA’s Climate-Ready Coasts initiative under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and allow NOAA to support impactful…

HII Delivers REMUS 620 UUVs to NOAA

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced that its Mission Technologies division has built and delivered two REMUS 620 uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for enhanced high-resolution ocean floor mapping. The REMUS 620, introduced in November 2022, represents a major advancement in medium-class UUV technology, according to HII. It is designed to offer a comprehensive range of both above- and below-water capabilities…

Drill Rig Noise: Entering the Exclusion Zone, Quietly

Unmanned surface vessels continue to make in-roads into new applications and industries. An ability to gather data in otherwise inaccessible locations is both increasing knowledge about marine noise and confidence in marine autonomous systems in the oil and gas industry. Elaine Maslin reports.Offshore oil and gas exploration and production activities have been going on since the mid-20th century. But…

NASA NeMO-Net video game helps Researchers Understand Global Coral Reef Health

NASA researchers invite the public to become citizen scientists and contribute towards their research on coral reef ecosystems by playing the NeMO-Net video gameA new study has demonstrated how video games can be used as a citizen science approach to train artificial intelligence tools, with data contributing towards coral reef conservation efforts. The NeMO-Net video game (http://nemonet.info), designed…

German Government Funds Autonomous Subsea Robotics System Development Project

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is providing 12 million Euros as part of the Maritime Research Program for the development of a novel autonomous submersible robotics system that will enable autonomous monitoring of underwater installations in the deep sea.All told, there are nine participating companies in the Cooperative Development of a Comprehensive Integrated Autonomous Underwater Monitoring Solution (CIAM) project…

Making Waves @ OSU: Energy Secretary, Senators, Governor tour Oregon State Wave Lab

U.S. Department of  Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown visited the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University on Tuesday afternoon, with Granholm touting wave energy as “the elixir that we need” to address climate change by ending the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.The visit was organized by OSU and the Pacific Marine Energy Center…

NOC's Professor Ed Hill Receives CBE

The National Oceanography Centre’s Chief Executive, Professor Ed Hill, received the insignia of a CBE at an investiture at Windsor Castle held by HRH the Duke of Cambridge. Professor Hill was awarded the CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors 2020 list, in recognition of his services to ocean and environmental sciences.Professor Hill has been committed to ocean exploration and observation throughout his 35-year career…

Virtual Conference to Focus on Transatlantic Marine Renewables

Marine industry experts from Portugal and Canada are staging a special Blue Economy conference to spark transatlantic business growth. WavEC Offshore Renewables is teaming up with the Embassy of Canada to Portugal to host ‘Advancing the Blue Economy through Intercontinental Collaboration’. It runs on December 09 and 10.The two-day online event includes a world-class roster of speakers. They will share knowledge on floating offshore wind…

INTERVIEW: Kris Kydd, Head of Robotics, at Total E&P UK; Total’s “Stevie the Robot”

Total has been working on robotics for some years now, having launched the Argos challenge in 2013 and now getting ready to put the Taurob designed Stevie robot through its paces in a trial at Shetland Gas Plant. We spoke with Kris Kydd, Head of Robotics, at Total E&P UK.What have been the main lessons learned to date around enabling these systems to operate in an offshore environment?Total believes that robots have a huge amount to offer to our industry.

SOI Steps Ahead on Ocean Mapping

With its new research vessel Falkor (too), Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) has ramped up its ability to map the ocean floor. Jyotika I. Virmani, Ph.D. Executive Director, SOI, offers insights on how new and emerging meld with onboard and shoreside crew to make exploration and discovery more efficient and effective.Jyotika, to start, can you give us a ‘By the Numbers’ look at SOI today?We recently donated our original vessel, Falkor, to Italy in 2022.

Shipbuilder Austal USA Partners with USV Firm Saildrone

Shipbuilder Austal USA and has formed a strategic partnership with Saildrone, Inc to build cutting-edge, autonomous uncrewed surface vehicles.The partnership  ensures that production of the autonomous and uncrewed Saildrone Surveyor will accelerate to meet the growing demand of the U.S. Navy and other government customers for the cutting-edge solution for maritime domain awareness, hydrographic survey, and other missions requiring persistent wide area coverage.

Beam Launches New System to Advance 3D Mapping for Offshore Wind

Beam, a company created by the merger of Rovco and Vaarst, has unveiled SubSLAM X3, a new underwater perception system designed to enhance the monitoring and maintenance of offshore wind farms.SubSLAM X3 offers real-time, high-resolution 3D mapping and is set to improve the efficiency and accuracy of underwater operations, according to Beam.The system integrates artificial intelligence (AI), robotics…

USVs Eye Offshore Wind Opportunities

Use of USVs in offshore wind has started to become a norm; in pre-survey and post-construction, with O&M on its way. How much more could be done?The use of USVs in the offshore industry has come a long way since they first started making an appearance in the 2010s. After some tentative steps, companies like XOCEAN have come in and blazed a trail, not least in offshore wind.This has largely been for standard multibeam and sub-bottom profile surveys.