Science & Technology

Iron that fertilizes the waters around Antarctica, mostly comes from the deep, upwelling waters and the sediments around the continent. That is shown by field research of NIOZ marine biogeochemist Hung-An Tian in the Amundsen Sea and the Weddell Sea. “Iron plays a pivotal role in the Antarctic ecosystem and potentially also in the climate,” Tian says. “But meanwhile, we still know very little about the exact bookkeeping of iron in the Southern Ocean.”

Seaspan Shipyards, Canada’s long-term shipbuilding partner for the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Royal Canadian Navy, has awarded ABB a contract to deliver an integrated propulsion system for the first of the CCG’s new-generation polar class icebreakers.

Venterra Group, a global offshore wind services company, has announced the launch of its expanded marine acoustics offering, underpinned by the expert capabilities of its Engineering companies INSPIRE Environmental, Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG), and Partrac.

Fugro has partnered with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) to help address the complex challenges posed by ocean-related risks, particularly in the face of climate change and environmental threats. Fugro will contribute Geo-data expertise to a diverse coalition of partners, underscoring their dedication to the shared objectives of mitigating climate change impacts and improving ocean health.

After winning a 3-year contract for more than 80 vessels to VSAT, Iridium and VoIP in 2021, Castor Marine’s connectivity contract has now been renewed by Jan De Nul Group and includes a roll-out of Starlink to most Jan De Nul Group vessels. The experts in marine construction, civil engineering and environmental projects have expressed their continued satisfaction about and need for solid vessel connectivity on a global scale.

Exail, a leading provider of subsea navigation and positioning technologies, has announced the launch of its latest product, the Phins 9 Compact. This new compact high-performance inertial navigation system (INS) is designed for all unmanned underwater vehicles and offers the market’s highest blend of navigation performance, reliability, and Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP) efficiency.

The Norwegian ocean-technology company, Kongsberg Discovery, introduces a new analysis tool developed in partnership with underwater imaging specialist Cathx Ocean that radically reduces the time and effort required to detect and classify objects of interest in seabed surveys undertaken by Kongsberg's market leading HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), reducing costs for survey owners and freeing up valuable resources to focus on more important tasks.

Sonardyne is leading a consortium of universities and technology companies in a ground-breaking underwater single photon mapping and imaging system project. They have been awarded £2.7m in funding from the Innovate UK Commercializing Quantum Technologies Challenge.

Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aramco, a global integrated energy and chemicals company, to undertake a 5G “mesh” network trial that aims to provide high-bandwidth connectivity for Aramco’s offshore work in the Arabian Gulf.

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) has deployed an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for a pipeline route survey in the Niger Delta. The USV innovation saves time and cost and reduces exposure to personnel and the environment.

The Pulse 8X underwater metal detector has long been the “go to” for public safety dive teams, police departments, government agencies and other forensic teams across the globe who are tasked with locating missing evidence. This missing evidence can help solve crimes and provide families with closure. This detector that has been awarded #1 by US Homeland Security as a commercial grade detector that will locate any metallic object; which is key component to finding disposed of weapons, cell phones and any other items that criminals don’t want found.

Oceaneering announces that its Subsea Robotics segment has achieved a new milestone, successfully completing its first onshore piloting of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) from an onshore remote operation center (OROC) in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.