Europe’s Deepest Glider Under Development

Nineteen partners from across Europe have come together to develop Europe’s first ultra-deep-sea robot glider. This glider will be capable of sampling the ocean autonomously at depths of 5000m, and maybe more in the future, for up to three months at a time. This project, which includes the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), has won 8 million Euro of funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020 programme to develop and test this innovative new technology.

Meet The Chatty Scientist

A brand new communication platform aims to help scientist share their research with the world. The new online science communication platform, called The Chatty Scientist, offers interactive resources and modern, flexible training that helps scientists discover the tools to best communicate their research, increase exposure and connect with audiences around the world. The Chatty Scientist is the brainchild of the platform's founder and CEO…

Maersk Drilling Name First Ultra-Deepwater Drillship

The new drillship was named 'Maersk Viking' by Mrs. Nathalie Newman, wife of Mr. Harry E. Newman Jr., ExxonMobil Global Drilling Manager in a ceremony at the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Geoje-Si, South Korea. Maersk Viking is the first in a series of four ultra deepwater drillships to enter Maersk Drilling’s rig fleet. The four drillships represent a total investment of USD 2.6bn and will be delivered from the SHI shipyard in late 2013 and 2014.

Call for Abstracts: Small Distributed Ocean Power

Location: Portsmouth Courtyard Marriott, Portsmouth, N.H. Paper Due Date: October 21, 2016. Welcome Ice-Breaker Reception: Wednesday Nov. Full Day Conference: Thursday Nov. Organizers: MTS Marine Renewable Energy Committee; Maggie Merrill (Marine Marketing Services), Ken Baldwin (UNH) and Cliff Merz (USF/CMS) will lead the effort. The Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative (MRECo), a non-profit organization…

iXblue Offers a Full Range of INS for All AUV Types

With Phins C3, C5 and C7 range, iXblue now provides fully scalable systems that cover all inertial navigation needs for any size of AUV. Based on iXblue’s silent true solid state Fiber-Optic Gyroscope technology, the Phins Compact Family guarantees high accuracy, unrivalled reliability and proved robustness. The iXblue’s Phins Compact Family has been designed to offer the AUV industry players the ability to choose an inertial navigation system adapted to their vehicle…

C-NAV Upgrades DP Vessel Software

C-Nav, a division of C & C Technologies an Oceaneering International Company providing dynamic DGNSS Precise Point Positioning systems, has introduced a newly upgraded version of its C-Scape software. C-Scape provides independent, real-time monitoring of dynamic positioning (DP) systems, while simultaneously providing operations overview of other vessels infield and subsea infrastructures via multilayer AutoCAD files.

MacGregor to Deliver Two Arctic Subsea Cranes

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has received an order for two MacGregor active heave-compensated (AHC) offshore cranes from a Turkish shipyard for a new subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) and construction vessel for a Norwegian owner. A 250 and 15-metric-ton MacGregor subsea crane will be installed on the 129-meter vessek. The 250-metric-ton unit will have its winch installed below the working deck and will also feature wire rope integrity software.

Scientists See Rising Threat of Coral Bleaching

As unusually warm ocean temperatures cover the north Pacific, equatorial Pacific and western Atlantic oceans, NOAA scientists expect greater bleaching of corals on Northern Hemisphere reefs through October, potentially leading to the death of corals over a wide area and affecting the long-term supply of fish and shellfish. While corals can recover from mild bleaching, severe or long-term bleaching kills corals. Even if corals recover, they are more susceptible to disease.

OceanWise Helps to Inform the East Asia Hydrographic Community

Marine data management and GIS specialist OceanWise has delivered its third course on Data Management, Database Design and Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) Capacity Building to the East Asia Hydrographic Commission (EAHC). The course was facilitated and hosted by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and supported by Esri Inc, which undertook the practical elements of the course using Esri’s range of hydrographic production and MSDI software.

Biofouling Foiled: UV Light Harnessed for Biofouling Control

Since the first deployment of in-situ monitoring instrumentation, biofouling has been a problem. Without an effective solution, people have historically had to accept the limits biofouling imposes on ocean sensing work, with significant repercussions. When instrumentation is deployed in-situ, the value of the data taken during the deployment corresponds with the longevity: information gleaned from a longer deployment is often more useful than information from one of a shorter term.

NOAA Orders Newbuild Navigation Response Boats

NOAA today announced that Lake Assault Boats of Superior, Wisconsin, will build two small vessels for the Office of Coast Survey's navigation response program, part of a plan to eventually replace all six of the program's small survey boats. The combined cost of both 28-foot vessels is $538,200. "All of the navigation response team survey boats are nearing or have exceeded their designed service life," said Russ Proctor, division chief of Coast Survey's Navigation Services Division.

New Solution for 3D Subsea Monitoring

Kongsberg Maritime has launched a new solution for the detection of scouring, corrosion, deformation and marine growth, which can destabilize wind turbines and underwater structures causing expensive, and potentially environmentally hazardous damage. On show at WindEnergy Hamburg 2014, the new K-Observer system, which is part of Kongsberg Maritime’s Modular Subsea Monitoring Network (MSM), provides accurate…

AquaPix MINSAS integrated onboard ATLAS SeaCat AUV

Kraken Sonar Inc. wholly-owned subsidiary, Kraken Sonar Systems Inc., has been awarded a contract valued at over C$425,000 ($336,600) by ATLAS ELEKTRONIK Canada to supply and integrate its AquaPix Miniature Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar and Real-Time SAS Signal Processor on the Atlas SeaCat autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Delivery is expected in September 2017. AquaPix is designed for operation on AUVs and towed platforms.

Saab Seaeye Joins NOC Robotics Innovation Center

Underwater robotics company Saab Seaeye has joined the National Oceanography Center’s (NOC) Marine Robotics Innovation Center, as an Associate Member. For Saab Seaeye, the NOC is an important hub in the development of underwater autonomous and robotic systems, and this new membership will further enable Saab Seaeye to collaborate with other strategic partners in the advancement of underwater robotic systems.

MHI to Build RV for JAMSTEC

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) received an order for construction of a wide-area seabed research vessel from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). The vessel will be designed to advance wide-area research into seafloor resources, its comprehensive research capabilities to include elucidation of mineral and ore deposit origins and formation conditions, and will also enable contributions to disaster prevention research.

Teledyne Optech to Present CZMIL’s Work for The Ocean Cleanup

Teledyne Optech chief scientist Dr. Viktor Feygels will attend the Oceans 17 MTS/IEEE in Anchorage, Alaska, September 18-21, to present results from Optech CZMIL Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar’s survey of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a large concentration of plastic debris covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in the north Pacific. Dr. Feygel’s presentation, co-written with…

Leading Survey Providers Choose HUGIN AUV

Leading survey providers DOF Subsea, Fugro Geoservices, Northwest Maritime and AXA Engehnaria Submarina have chosen Kongsberg Maritime’s autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) HUGIN for offshore operations. According to Geir Espen Schmidt, Vice President AUV in Kongsberg Maritime, the HUGIN orders come from both new and repeat customers for offshore operations. Schmidt said, “We see an increase in the…

Teams Vie for $2m Ocean Health XPRIZE

Down from 77 initial entrants to 18, a diverse group of competitors vie for the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIXE’s $2 million cash purse. Nonprofit organization XPRIZE, which creates and manages large-scale, high-profile competitions that aim to stimulate research and development solutions to grand problems across a number of scientific fields, announced in September that 18 team were selected to…

Machines Infused with AI that Fly, Swarm and Dive

Can mimicking insect behavior provide a way to map the ocean floor? Can robotic-controlled flying and diving drones be both bird-like and fish-like in the race to explore the ocean depths? As a global group of 19 semi-finalist teams in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE compete to create innovative autonomous technologies to image and chart the unknown in a cold, dark and hull-crushing undersea world at depths down to 4…

Building a National Resource Offshore Brazil

CGG has been present in Brazil for over 55 years, since the company began working with Petrobras in 1961. Its long-established Rio de Janeiro Subsurface Imaging Center, with its strong reservoir characterization group, has the largest computer capacity and greatest expertise in the region. In 2010, CGG also opened a technology center in Rio with a world-class R&D team, working with Petrobras and other local agencies to focus on solving local geoscience challenges.