NOAA: Operational Forecast System Informs Shipwreck Oil Spill Scenarios

During World War II, the 334-foot, 5,350-ton SS Coast Trader was hit by a torpedo and sank off the coast of Cape Flattery, Washington. Resting almost 500 feet below the surface, the Coast Trader has an estimated 542 tons of heavy fuel oil remaining in the fuel tanks. The quantity onboard the Coast Trader is equivalent to 60% of the volume of fuel spilled into the Pacific Ocean near Grays Harbor by the barge Nestucca in 1988…

CGG's Sercel Buys ION Geophysical's Software Business

French seismic data firm CGG said Monday that its Sensing & Monitoring division Sercel had completed the acquisition of ION Geophysical Corporation’s (“ION”) software business.ION's software business includes Orca: a navigation system dedicated to streamers; Gator: a navigation system dedicated to OBN; Mesa: a set of tools for optimizing land and marine seismic crews; and Marlin: a software for managing simultaneous marine operations…

Golden Software updates Surfer Mapping Tech

Golden Software added the ability to download georeferenced Google aerial and satellite images to map projects in the latest version of its Surfer mapping and 3D visualization package. Other new features focus on faster and simpler creation of 3D visualizations that are easier to interpret and understand.Surfer enables users to model data sets, apply an array of advanced analytics tools, and visually communicate the results in a way that even the non-technical stakeholders can understand.

Kongsberg Maritime Launches 'Digital Toolbox' for Ocean Data Management, Analysis

Kongsberg Maritime (KM) launched Blue Insight, a cloud-based digital toolbox designed to enable collection, visualization, contextualization, management and distribution of ocean data. According to KM, Blue Insight provides an open, modular platform for the processing, visualization and sharing of ocean data. The core module contains the cloud framework – which has been built to the highest cyber security standards – and an application-specific dashboard…

Carnegie Launches Wave Energy Device to Power Moored Vessels

ASX-listed wave energy technology company Carnegie Clean Energy has launched a CETO-derived wave energy product designed for moored vessels, which "offers a solution to the challenge of securing clean and reliable energy for offshore activities, reducing reliance on diesel generation."CETO is a fully submerged, point absorber-type wave energy technology. A submerged buoy sits a few meters below the surface of the ocean and moves with the ocean’s waves.

Global Hydrographic Innovation and Technology Laboratory Established in Singapore

Singapore and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) have launched the Joint IHO-Singapore Innovation and Technology Laboratory.The Laboratory seeks to optimize the resources of IHO Member States to harness and develop emerging technologies in the hydrographic domain that support safe maritime navigation and the protection of the marine environment. In accelerating innovation in the field of hydrography…

ION Sells Compasses for Subsea Vehicle Navigation

ION announced today the second sale of a number of its highly differentiated optical magnetic heading sensors to enable subsea vehicles to quickly reach their desired destinations.In the fourth quarter, successful field trials demonstrated the advanced compasses’ accuracy in GPS-deprived environments and led to delivery of the first commercial order in the first quarter.In less than a year, ION's devices…

Shell Starts New Gulf of Mexico Field ahead of Plan

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday announced the start of production at the Kaikias field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, around one year ahead of schedule.Production from the subsea deep water development, which will reach 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, comes after Shell reduced its costs by around 30 percent to allow it to generate profit at less than $30 a barrel, the company said."We believe…

Tidal Project Begins Construction on Subsea Platform

Understanding the Bay of Fundy's powerful tides is getting easier, thanks to  a new advanced sensor platform being built for the Minas Passage. Simon Melrose, the platform project manager for the Fundy Ocean Research  Center for Energy (FORCE), speaking at the Nova Scotia Energy Research and  Development Forum today, announced construction contracts for a new  underwater platform designed to measure…

Real-time Oceanographic Equipment Installed at Port Everglades

Real-time tides, currents, water levels and other metrological information at Broward County’s Port Everglades is now readily available to the public thanks to an advanced sensor device developed and installed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).“Boaters and commercial mariners will be able to make safer choices based on the data from this equipment because it gives real-time information and forecasts,” said Port Everglades Deputy Port Director Glenn Wiltshire.

ASL Builds Custom Instrument for Hydrothermal Vent Flow

ASL Environmental Sciences Inc. has been awarded a $500,000 contract by the University of Georgia to build a reciprocal transmission acoustic scintillation instrument to measure the flow dynamics of a hydrothermal vent plume for a research project led by Dr. Daniela Di Iorio of the Department of Marine Sciences. The instrument will be installed at the Ocean Networks Canada NEPTUNE cabled observatory at the Endeavour hydrothermal vent site…

Bert Instruments Adds Nexus USBL to Its Equipment Pool

Since 1993 Florida based Bert Instruments’ team of consultants has been providing marine geophysical and environmental studies in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America for petroleum companies, the U.S. Department of Defense, major Universities and private companies. The company’s expertise covers both hydrographic and oceanographic surveys and is headed up by electronic engineer Humberto Guarin PhD…

BAE Systems Starts Construction on GulfMark PSV

BAE Systems’ shipyard in Alabama has begun construction on the first of two platform supply vessels (PSVs) for GulfMark Americas, Inc. Executives and employees from both companies gathered recently at the BAE Systems’ facility in Mobile to oversee the initial cutting of steel for the vessel’s first module, which is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2014. The BAE Systems-built 300-Class Green DP2 vessels are designed by MMC Ship Design & Marine Consulting, Ltd.

L-3 Klein to Showcase System 5900 Advance Multi-Function Sonar Platform

At the Sea-Air-Space 2013 Show being held April 8-10, 2013, L-3 will display its Klein S5900 Side Scan Sonar which is now in rate production. L-3 will also answer questions concerning its full line of side scan and multi-beam sonar products. The MIL/COTS S5900 Side Scan Sonar represents Klein’s advanced multi-function sonar platform and includes the following key features: high resolution multi-beam side scan sonar…

Flight MH370: Latest Fugro AUV Joins the Hunt

Fugro took delivery of the Hugin 1000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), the Echo Surveyor VII, in December 2014. Depth rated to 4,500 metres, the new AUV now holds the record for the deepest Hugin AUV dive, surveying in water depths surpassing 4,200 m. As the latest addition to Fugro’s AUV fleet, the Echo Surveyor VII is specifically designed for high resolution and efficient survey operations in water depths reaching 4,500 metres.

Five Minutes with John Tamplin Founder, Seafloor Systems

Can you tell us how you came to be involved in the subsea industry with a short career background prior to Seafloor Systems? I was a Naval Hydrographer and Sonar Technician with an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Unit prior to entering into the private sector. My job in the Navy entailed using sidescan sonar to detect and locate undersea mines as well as underwater search and recovery operations. Once I detached from active duty, I was hired by Reson, Inc.

James Cameron Gifts 'Deepsea Challenger' to Woods Hole

The Explorer and filmmaker James Cameron partners with Woods Hole Oceanographic Intitution to accelerate  technology development. The partnership aims to stimulate advances in ocean science and technology and build on the historic breakthroughs of the 2012 Cameron-led Deepsea Challenge expedition exploring deep-ocean trenches. The announcement comes on the one-year anniversary of Cameron's unprecedented solo dive to 35…

Subsea UK to Sponsor MATE ROV Competition

Subsea UK announced today, at Subsea Expo, that it will sponsor an initiative which inspires budding subsea engineers for a second year. The body which represents the £9billion subsea industry has now committed £20,000 to the Scottish MATE ROV competition. The initiative, organized by the Robert Gordon University, encourages young engineers to design and test underwater machinery with help from industry mentors.

New Satlantic SUNA V2

The new SUNA V2 with shortened path length and adaptive sampling is finally here! The new SUNA V2 represents the latest advance in UV nitrate technology that broadens previous operational ranges to include extremely turbid environments. This highly anticipated UV nitrate sensor raises the bar for continuous nitrate monitoring and extended deployments in both freshwater and marine environments.

Atlantic Canada Profiles: SubC Imaging

SubC Imaging, located in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, creates some of the most advanced underwater imaging systems in the world, including state-of-the-art cameras, lights, lasers and DVR Overlay solutions for media management. Since its founding in 2010 SubC has developed an international clientele in the offshore energy, ocean sciences and aerospace and defense sectors with clients in over 20 countries.