Falcon best for Japan's Renewables says Shibuya
For Japan’s growing offshore renewable sector, Shibuya Diving Industry Ltd (SDI), chose another Saab Seaeye Falcon for their Falcon fleet.
“As a diving company, an underwater robotic vehicle is a vital resource for extending our operational capability,” says Shibuya “and found the Falcon was the top choice globally amongst diving companies.”
“To find the best vehicle, we assessed the range on the market and found that the Seaeye Falcon is the most widely used robot in the offshore power generation business with the longest proven reliability record.”
Shibuya mainly deploy the Falcon for floating turbine work as, in a crowded and mountainous country, the search for sites in Japan is going offshore with floating turbines the favoured option in the deep waters off the rugged coast.
Experienced in renewables
Shibuya have 10 years’ experience in offshore wind power generation, being early to trial robots for the emerging use of floating turbines for power generation.
Shibuya recognises that robots are best placed to advance the use of floating turbines by confirming the stability of deep mooring anchorages and for carrying out periodic inspections of the floating structures.
Success in the floating offshore wind power generation business has extended Shibuya’s operations into tidal power generation and ocean current power generation.
For Shibuya, the Falcon’s multi-tasking capability with easy role change makes it an ideal choice. It is also easy to use, highly manoeuvrable and able to master turbulent waters and strong currents and remain stable whilst undertaking robust or precision tasks.
The reliability record of the Falcon, covering over a million hours of undersea operations, working in challenging environments at many different tasks, was particularly reassuring to Shibuya.
Diver safety
The Falcon plays a vital safety role by undertaking missions too hazardous for divers and where the depth of water and strength of current are dangerous for divers to operate, such as surveying fishing grounds and fishing reefs prior to turbine installation - and periodic inspection of mooring anchors and chains.
The addition of the Falcon to diving operations improves diver safety and increase efficiency, Shibuya says, by pinpointing and examining locations of interest before sending down divers.
Also, during the diving operation the Falcon robot can keep a watchful eye – and save dive time by transporting tools and parts back and forth.
Planting seaweed forests
Important in Japan’s development of offshore technologies for power generation is maintaining harmony with the natural environment and enabling marine ecosystems and floating turbines to co-exist and promote sustainable fishing.
To this extent, Shibuya is involved in the proliferation of seaweed forests in power generation areas by releasing seaweed seedlings to promote an increase in fishery resources.
They have conducted seaweed bed surveys and regeneration in more than 50 locations throughout Japan.
Shibuya’s Seaeye Falcons continue to play an important role in supporting this important sustainable enterprise as the renewable energy business continues to grow in Japan.
Supporting Shibuya in their acquisition of their additional Falcon was Saab Seaeye’s distributor in Japan, Marimex.
Falcon and diver - photo courtesy Shibuya
Surveying Shallow Water from Space – easy and online
EOMAP launches SDB-Online, the new WebApp for Satellite-Derived Bathymetry
SDB-Online is the new cloud-based WebApp to create high-resolution bathymetric grids for shallow waters. As the first of its kind it builds on EOMAP’s expertise in Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB), a technique to map water depth from space, avoiding time consuming and costly on-site surveys. With SDB-Online, coastal engineers, surveyors, modellers or scientists can create high-resolution bathymetry grids 24/7, from the comfort of their desks.
“EOMAP’s SDB-Online is delivering fast and accurate results without the need of ground control data, processing 10 scenes in less than one hour. The “Combine” option (multi-image processing) is a game changer in challenging locations, especially with frequent cloud cover or heavy vessel traffic”, says Véronique Jégat, Senior Geo-Data Engineer at Fugro.
In addition, bathymetric power users can integrate SDB-Online via API into their own software solutions, like QPS does: “During our prototyping, I was impressed how quickly things came together for the two development teams. Particularly elegant was how EOMAP combined multiple images of the same area to give the best possible depth estimate. The workflow is already very smooth, and now we‘re keen to work with early adopters to advance these tools“, reports Jonathan Beaudoin, Managing Director, QPS B.V.
Underwater topography – bathymetry – is crucial for many different coastal stakeholders: On the basis of bathymetric data, coastal engineers calculate and plan their projects, surveyors decide where to set up on-site campaigns, modellers analyse and predict coastal dynamics, while scientists study seabed morphology and benthos. So far, they often had to either perform work and cost intensive on-site surveys or to rely on insufficient data from other sources. SDB-Online helps: It enables the above users to access high resolution bathymetric grids of shallow waters without on-site surveys – rapidly and easily.
“Experts managing or studying coastal shallow waters will experience an incredible time and information gain: Within minutes they can trigger automated processing routines and receive high-res bathymetry data for their projects“, says Mona Reithmeier, SDB-Online manager and SDB expert at EOMAP.
Mona Reithmeier, SDB-Online Manager, EO Data Analyst, EOMAP
For more than two decades, EOMAP has been pioneering in Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB). This technology allows to calculate water depth data by inverting sunlight’s way through atmosphere and water, harnessing multispectral satellite imagery. On SDB-Online, this complex process is now running automatically – basically in four steps: Once the user has accessed SDB-Online via her or his browser, she/he defines an area of interest anywhere on Earth using the map. A – manual or AI trained – image selection process starts and is linked to satellite data archives of the European Space Agency (ESA). Following that, the physics based SDB analysis creates the gridded bathymetry surface that align with ISO and OGC standards. As an option, QAQC processes by EOMAP’s data analysts or seafloor classification can be added.
Satellite-Derived Bathymetry is EOMAP’s key expertise. In 2015 and 2022, EOMAP was selected top-ranked SDB provider by the UK Hydrographic Office. Moreover, EOMAP’s bathymetric data are featured in nautical charts and the European harmonized bathymetry grid EMODnet Bathymetry. Coastal planners and engineers, surveyors and hydrographers all over the world value EOMAP’s SDB expertise and data.
SDB-Online has been developed with co-funding by EU Horizon 2020 innovation program. Contact: [email protected]
3D visualization by SDB-Online of coastal area in northern Canada - © EOMAP
MacArtney Terminates EOM Cable for Defence Customer
MacArtney Canada, working for an unnamed defence organisation, terminated two 500 m electro-optical-mechanical (EOM) cables for a towed subsea system.
The double armoured EOM cables will facilitate power and telemetry to the payload while supporting its mechanical load.
TrustLink steel termination
On each cable's 'wet end', the workshop team at MacArtney Canada installed a customised TrustLink Type IV-S steel termination, allowing mechanical strain transfer from the towed system to the cable armour isolating the copper or electrical conductors from the force. A moulded bend restrictor was potted onto the cable, protecting it from exceeding its minimum bend radius.
Connectivity solution
The inner cable bundles were threaded through the TrustLink terminations, through protective hoses, and moulded in place. At the end of the cable, x8 SubConn® Power 1 kV inline cable whips were wired and moulded onto each cable in 'y-splice' configurations. The optical conductors within the cable bundle were also fused and moulded with OptoLink A04 CCP whips.
The armour was cut, clamped, and moulded in place on the 'dry' end of each cable. The inner cable bundles were threaded through tubes and moulded. The electrical and optical conductors were terminated in a 'y-splice' mould with SubConn® Power 1 kV inline whips and OptoLink A04 CCP whips, respectively.
Both cable reels were tested successfully and delivered to the customer on schedule.
Custom cable terminations
Projects such as these are a testament to the MacArtney Group's expertise in custom cable terminations, whether they be electrical, optical, or mechanical in nature, connectivity solutions, and facilitating telemetry for ruggedised systems.
TrustLink, SubConn®, and OptoLink products are chosen and trusted by MacArtney's customers industry-wide for their high build quality and unmatched dependability.
TCarta Opens Canadian Affiliate Office to Provide Hydrospatial Mapping Services Across Canada
Baffin Island Project Announced
TCarta Marine, a global provider of hydrospatial products and services, has announced the formation of TCarta Canada based in Ottawa, Ontario. Offering the complete line of TCarta satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) services and Trident SDB Toolbox software, the affiliate office is a partnership between TCarta Marine and Prof. Anders Knudby, a well-known marine geospatial researcher and consultant in Canada.
TCarta made the announcement at the Canadian Hydrographic Conference 2022, which ran on June 9 in Gatineau (Ottawa), Ontario, Canada.
TCarta Canada announced its first contract – a pilot project to update bathymetric navigation charts for Baffin Island’s Cape Hooper and Kangok Fjord with SDB technology. The contract is administered by the Canadian Hydrographic Services, which has previously purchased SDB maps from TCarta.
The partnership between TCarta Marine and Knudby is an ideal merger of complementary technologies. Knudby, who will serve as Managing Partner for the new office, has pioneered development of SDB algorithms for Canada’s coastal waters as a consultant and associate professor at University of Ottawa. TCarta has recently focused on expanding its SDB techniques for application in Arctic regions. Knudby’s algorithms are being incorporated into the TCarta Project Trident SDB workflow.
"TCarta Canada will accelerate our research and push the boundaries for how we deliver marine geospatial products. The Canadian Arctic is an enormous area, difficult to access, often covered in cloud, ice, and darkness, and poorly charted,” said Knudby. “But maritime traffic is increasing as the Arctic Sea ice recedes, and mariners crossing these waters need up-to-date information for safe navigation. TCarta Canada will play an important role here, turning satellite imagery into the information products that mariners need."
At the heart of TCarta Canada’s offerings will be the new Trident (SDB) Toolbox, now available as a software-as-a-service product. The Toolbox is a series of software applications that operate within Esri ArcGIS Pro and allow organizations to perform their own extraction of bathymetric measurements from satellite, aerial, and UAV imagery.
With offices in the United States and Jamaica, TCarta has built an international business on cost-effectively and safely deriving onshore and offshore data sets using multispectral imagery captured by Earth observation satellites – without negative impact on the natural habitat. TCarta products and services are relied upon by governmental, insurance, oil & gas, environmental, and infrastructure development clients in applications as diverse as natural resource monitoring, tsunami modeling, disaster & hazard response, and hydrologic studies.
Image shows 10m SDB and bathymetric contour lines produced from numerous Sentinel 2 images in the Fox Basin, Arctic Canada.
Teledyne Marine Annual Photo Contest Now Open
Teledyne Marine has announced the return of its annual photo contest. All Teledyne Marine customers and users are encouraged to submit their favorite photos showing any of Teledyne Marine’s products in action, data collected using a Teledyne Marine product, or photos taken using a Teledyne Bowtech camera.
This year’s contest, which closes on August 31, 2022, includes eight entry categories. The grand prize winner will be awarded a DJI Mini 3 Pro Advanced Mini Camera Drone; and the remaining seven winners will select from three prizes to match their interests.
All are encouraged to visit the contest page to submit an image and/or vote for their favorites. A link to full contest details, online submission and voting can be found at: www.teledynemarine.com
About Teledyne Marine
Teledyne Marine is a group of leading subsea technology companies that are part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. Through acquisitions and collaboration, Teledyne Marine has evolved into an industry cornerstone, bringing Imaging, Instruments, Interconnect, Seismic, and Vehicle technology together to provide total solutions to our customers.
Safer at sea: Wave and current research improves metocean forecasts
A new study has documented the first simultaneous observations of waves and currents in Norway’s Lofoten Maelstrom – one of the world’s strongest open-ocean tidal current systems. The observations, born out of a collaboration between the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Norwegian Coastal Agency and Nortek AS, will help make fishing and seafaring in the area safer.
The Lofoten Maelstrom is famed for its powerful waves, eddies, whirlpools and fast-flowing currents that have wrecked ships and put seafarers in grave danger for centuries. It also inspired stories such as Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Edgar Allan Poe’s A Descent into the Maelström.
Generally, current speeds of two meters per second are classed as exceptionally fast. In a study , the authors recorded speeds of up to three meters per second. The authors believe that currents are even faster in other parts of the Maelstrom.
Gathering unique dataset of waves and currents with advanced acoustic technology
The authors gathered a unique dataset of simultaneous observations of waves and currents and observations of bubble depth using a Signature500 current profiler (ADCP) . This advanced acoustic instrument is capable of “seeing” the ocean in three dimensions.
“It’s very rare that you get simultaneous observations of waves and currents, especially where you have such a strong tidal current,” explains co-author Trygve Halsne, scientist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and PhD student at the University of Bergen.
Understanding the way the ocean moves helps seafarer and fishers
Using observations recorded with this advanced acoustic technology, the researchers estimated wave height and the speed and direction of the currents. They found wave breaking to be particularly vigorous when the waves traveled in the opposite direction to the currents.
The observations also revealed a more unusual phenomenon – strong wave breaking when waves and currents travel in the same direction.
“When you talk to people like fishermen, they always say it’s when the current is opposing the waves that you get the strong breaks. However, we also saw strong breaks when the waves and currents moved in the same direction,” says Dr Øyvind Saetra, deputy head of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute’s division for Ocean and Ice, and lead author of the study.
The data can be fed into models that drive metocean (ocean and meteorological) forecasts. Seafarers and fishers can use these forecasts to plan their activities to avoid the most dangerous conditions.
(Image left) Moskstraumen, one of the world’s strongest open-ocean tidal currents, lies in the Lofoten archipelago in the north of Norway. (Photo: Raymond Engmark)
(Image right) Scientists from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Nortek’s Tom Christian Ambrosius Mortensen (left), with the support of the Norwegian Coastal Agency, deployed the Signature500 ADCP in the challenging ocean environment of Norway’s Lofoten Maelstrom. (Photo: Raymond Engmark)
Geocuba Estudios Marinos, deploys Metocean buoy off Havana Bay
Geocuba Estudios Marinos in Havana, Cuba are pleased to announce that they have successfully deployed a Metocean buoy off Havana Bay.
The buoy transmits met data as well as wave height , surface current and sea water temperature, conductivity, salinity, pH and ORP.
The data from the buoy is received at Geocuba EM’s base at Regla, at the back of Havana Bay. It is available for the harbour authority and Environment agency. The harbour authority will use the data to permit large vessels to enter the harbour, and the Environment Agency are using the data to study pollution streams from the rivers which feed into Havana Bay. Local fishermen can check the sea conditions before heading out to catch.
Angel Lenin Rodriguez, Director of Operations at Geocuba EM, said “We are very pleased to have this first Metocean buoy installed and operational, after a long delay followed by lack of a suitable vessel with a crane for the anchor weight. We are grateful to our friends at SERMAR who made a vessel available to us for the deployment.”
Geocuba has plans for a full network around the island outside all major harbours.
Fugro aids safe delivery of development assets for Jumbo in US Gulf of Mexico
Jumbo Maritime has awarded Fugro a positioning and metocean services contract to help guide the safe transport and installation of a new floating production system (FPS) for Vito, a deepwater development in the US Gulf of Mexico. Fugro services will support both inshore and offshore towing of the 24,000-ton structure as it leaves the coast of Texas and travels 800 km to the Vito field for final positioning and hook-up. The project is expected to be executed in summer 2022.
Asset positioning will be accomplished using a remotely enabled Fugro Starfix® solution. The approach will provide real-time knowledge of all vessel locations, both in relation to each other and the FPS, while limiting the number of surveyors required in the field. Given the number of assets required for the project— eight inshore and offshore towing vessels, two anchor handling vessels and the FPS— the remote technology will significantly reduce health and safety exposure, as well as carbon emissions. During installation, positioning data will be complemented by real-time current monitoring information to support situational awareness and safe working conditions.
Dan Matthews, Fugro’s Commercial Director for Asset Integrity in the Americas stated: “As a long-time global contractor to Jumbo, Fugro is pleased to support the tow-out and hook-up of the new Vito FPS. Working in partnership with Jumbo, we’ve designed a highly technical solution that will help to ensure a safe project outcome and support efficient operations in the field.”
Italian Navy's NAV-80 homologation
NOVACAVI proudly obtained the Italian Navy’s NAV-80 homologation for cables suitable onboard naval units enriching its range of special defence cables with:
NOVANAV miniaturized and flexible cables for electrical and electronic interconnection according to NAV-80-6145-0003-14-01B000
and
NOVANAV zero-halogen electrical and electronic interconnection cables, replacing MIL-DTL-24640 cables not buffered according to NAV-80-6145-0006-13-01B000.
These products are designed and manufactured according to Italian Navy Norms to be applicable on-board Military Naval Vessels for power supply and signal interconnections (fixed laying) between the units of systems, subsystems, and equipment and for power and signal wiring in these vessels.
Samples will be showcased at UDT 2022, Rotterdam on NOVACAVI’s stand A33 next 7th -9th June.
Specialist in custom cables design and manufacturing for harsh and demanding environments since 1975, NOVACAVI provides the most efficient cable solution to face and support all activities in the most challenging scenarios.
Innovative FerryBox system ready to track climate change effects in Chile’s subantarctic waters
Sea water sensor and measuring system manufacturer -4H-JENA engineering has just completed the installation of a sophisticated sea water monitoring system aboard the Yaghan ferry, which operates on a 587 km route between Puerto Williams and Punta Arenas in the south of Chile.
A first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, the installed ‘FerryBox’ has been configured to measure diverse parameters that will enable a team from the Austral University of Chile and FONDAP IDEAL Center, led by Dr Ricardo Giesecke, to map ecosystem deviations and apply the data to create new models that will help the region adapt to the effects of man-made climate change.
FerryBox is a highly customisable all in one solution for precise and continuous measurements of sea water from (moving) platforms such as merchant ships and ferries, as well as manned or unmanned research stations in remote regions. The FerryBox system on the Yaghan ferry measures water temperature, oxygen, salinity, chlorophyll-a, pCO2 concentration, pH, nitrate, crude oil, yellow substance, and turbidity. It also includes a set of radiometers provided by the ICBM (Uni. Oldenburg) installed on the bridge of the ship, to measure optical properties of the water.
“Together with the Austral team, we configured the FerryBox to measure factors that will indicate changes in the marine environment caused by melting glaciers,” said Dr Maik Grunwald, Head of R&D, -4H-JENA engineering. “There has been little study of the marine ecosystem in the region so the measurements in the subantarctic waters and fjords of Southern Chile will prove vital to scientists working to establish the effects of glacier melting and climate change in subantarctic environments.”
The Yaghan ferry FerryBox will analyse sea water samples every minute along the entire 36 hours trip between Puerto Williams and Punta Arenas, with six sailings per month. Over time, the data collected will contribute towards helping Chile to tackle important questions such as the impact of human activities in still pristine environments, measure the impact of climate change on a wide spatial scale with high temporal resolution, and define processes involved in keeping high biological productivity in certain areas.
This information will also be available for local governments to development strategies for the protection of high productive ecosystems as well as for policy orientated initiatives for the responsible management of marine coastal ecosystems.
