Noble Drillship Gets a DP Upgrade

Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation plc has selected acoustically-aided inertial navigation technology from Sonardyne Inc., Houston, for its ultra-deep water drillship Noble Globetrotter I. The Marksman DP-INS system is being used to provide a high integrity, independent subsea position reference for the vessel’s GE DP3 dynamic positioning (DP) system as it drills exploration wells in water depths up to 10,000 feet.

New Rescue Vessel Decked out with High-tech Equipment

Complete multibeam echo-sounder system and high-speed winch supplied, installed and set to work by MacArtney’s French subsidiary. A newly built state-of-the-art rescue vessel Sirius operated by VLOOT dab is 45 m long, almost 11 m wide and can reach a speed of 13 knots. Sirius, which has been designed for combating disasters at sea, required a range of high-tech equipment. The scope of supply for Sirius includes a multibeam echo sounder system comprising a high-resolution multibeam echo sounder…

Deep-sea Canyons and Seeps Discovered Off U.S. Northeast

Ocean explorers in July on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer discovered a wide diversity of seafloor features and communities of life in the largely unexplored deep-sea canyons off the northeast U.S. coast. Now through August 16, as the expedition continues, the public can join the mission as "citizen scientists," at oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos, to see live seafloor video and listen as scientists discuss their observations in real time.

MTU's New Generation Series 2000 Yacht Engine

MTU will be presenting its propulsion and system solutions at the International yachting “Festival de la Plaisance” in Cannes from September 9-14, 2014. Visitors will be able to discover the extensive portfolio of the Rolls-Royce Power Systems subsidiary at Stand JAS-025. An advanced Series 2000 M96 yacht engine which meets US emission stage EPA Tier 3 (for leisure craft) will be on view for the first time.

MacArtney Singapore Opens Slip Ring Service Facility

MacArtney announced the opening of a dedicated slip ring service facility in Singapore. Operating out of a new and purpose designed in-house workshop equipped with the latest tools and equipment, the new service facility is capable of performing complete refurbishment, repair and maintenance of all standard Moog Focal slip ring models. All jobs at the MacArtney Singapore slip ring service facility…

WHOI Helps Locate El Faro’s Voyage Data Recorder

A team of scientists and engineers from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), U.S. Coast Guard and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have located the voyage data recorder (VDR) of the U.S. flagged cargo ship El Faro, which sank during Hurricane Joaquin on Oct. 1, 2015, killing all 33 crew aboard. The VDR was located at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday in the waters between Florida and the Bahamas at a depth of approximately 4,600 meters.

Minesto Adds Management, Development Staff

Nordic marine energy technology leader Minesto, with a marine power plant that is able to cost efficiently produce electricity from low velocity tidal and ocean currents, has appointed Dr. Heije Westberg as the company’s new Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Heije Westberg has previously been Manager for the Department of Energy Conversion at Volvo Technology AB and Technology Advisor for Energy Efficiency & Environment within Advanced Technology & Research at Volvo Group Trucks Technology.

TGS, PGS Team Up on Eastern Canada Seismic

TGS announces the expansion of its multi-client library offshore Eastern Canada with plans to acquire more than 36,000 km of 2D seismic data, in partnership with PGS, utilizing two vessels during the 2016 acquisition season. The M/V Sanco Spirit and M/V Atlantic Explorer, utilizing the PGS GeoStreamer technology, will acquire seismic and gravity data in the Labrador Sea, Newfoundland Orphan-Flemish Pass basins and Grand Banks areas. Data acquisition will commence during late May 2016.

Ocean vs Space: Exploration and the Quest to Inspire the Public

Both space and ocean exploration can boast world firsts, extreme risks, unknown challenges and mind-boggling discoveries that captivate our imagination and advance our understanding of our world and, fundamentally, of ourselves. So why does space exploration and research capture our collective attention and imagination more than ocean exploration and research? The answer to this question has remained elusive for ocean professionals and enthusiasts alike.

MTR 100: Battelle

The Case: Battelle’s Maritime Systems group provides customized hardware development, engineering services, product manufacturing and support. It can bring purpose built solutions to the most difficult technology challenges in the maritime environment especially addressing submersibles, persistence, life cycle engineering and sensors. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world…

Water Level Data Quality Control Manual Updated

The U.S. The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Real-Time Oceanographic Data (QARTOD) project has released the Manual for Real-Time Quality Control of Water Level Data Version 2.0, which helps data providers and operators to ensure the most accurate real-time data possible. The U.S. IOOS QARTOD project has published nine data quality-control manuals since 2012, five of which have been revised. The manuals are based on U.S.

BOEM to Open Bids for Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Gulf of Mexico Regional Director John Rodi will open the Gulf of Mexico Western Planning Area Lease Sale 238 at 9 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The sale, which offers more than 21 million acres for oil and gas exploration and development offshore Texas, is open to the public and news media representatives are invited to attend.

Awards Ceremony Recognizes NRL Researchers

Eighteen U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) scientists and engineers representing ten NRL research divisions were recognized with the prestigious Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Scientist and Engineer of the Year Award. The award ceremony was held on June 6th, with Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development & Acquisition) Sean Stackley, and Dr. Delores Etter presenting the awards. This annual award is sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research…

Two Groups Select HYPACK in South America

HYPACK was selected as the main hydrographic tool for two international commissions responsible for important navigational areas of Argentina and Uruguay. To the South of the American continent, ranging between Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay lies the Uruguay River, about 1,750 km long. This river flows into the Rio de la Plata, which in turn is the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay. This river with is 300 km long and 219 km at its widest part…

NOAA Deploys Survey Ships for Arctic Charting Projects

NOAA announced the official launch of its 2015 Arctic hydrographic survey season took place this morning, in Kodiak, Alaska, in a World Ocean Day ceremony which showcased the deployment of the NOAA ships Rainier and Fairweather. “Most Arctic waters that are charted were surveyed with obsolete technology, with some of the information dating back to Captain Cook's voyages, long before the region was part of the United States,” said NOAA deputy under secretary for operations Vice Admiral Michael S.

Coast Guard to Host Underwater Robotics Competition

The U.S. Coast Guard will host local students participating in Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Oahu Regional Competition Saturday at Base Honolulu. The contest’s top winners will travel to Houston to compete against the winning teams of other regional MATE international ROV competitions, June 23 to 25 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Lab. The students are preparing for journeys to the depths of the Earth’s oceans and the farthest reaches of Europa…

ThunderFish Alpha AUV Delivered to Kraken

A next generation autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) designed for deep sea military, commercial and scientific applications, the ThunderFish Alpha, has been delivered to Kraken Sonar Systems Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kraken Sonar Inc. The ThunderFish Alpha AUV – formerly known as DEDAVE – was developed by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute and will be used as a technology demonstrator platform to support ongoing development of Kraken's underwater sensor and robotics programs.

Si-Tex Expands Offering with New Koden Echosounders

Si-Tex Marine Electronics now offers echosounding technology from Koden, expanding its line of FX Series sounders with the new CVS-FX2 and CVS-FX2 BB (Black Box) models. These are powerful professional-grade sounders engineered for a wide variety of commercial vessels and fishing applications, Si-Tex said. Their advanced fish-finding capabilities also make both new FX2 Series models suited for use on high-end sportfishing vessels, as well.

Ultra-deepwater Drillship Delivered to Ensco

Ensco plc has taken delivery of ENSCO DS-7, an advanced-capability, ultra-deepwater drillship. The vessel will embark from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea to Angola, where it is contracted to Total for three years beginning in the fourth quarter at an initial day rate in the mid $610,000's. ENSCO DS-7 is the third Ensco rig contracted to Total and will be the fourth Ensco rig working in West Africa.

Saab Develops Underwater Anti-IED Robot

Designed to combat below-the-surface terrorism, Sea Wasp is the latest generation remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from defense and security company Saab. Presented at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Md., Sea Wasp has been engineered to relocate, identify and neutralize underwater improvised explosive devices (IEDs). While most underwater IED threats are disposed of manually by trained explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) divers…