We Visited for You: Oceanology International Americas 2003

From 4 to 6 June, OI Americas 2003 was held at the Louisiana Ernst N. Morial Convention centre in New Orleans: three days featuring marine science, technology, operational oceanography, policy and special events in the city of musicians. Presentations ran parallel with the conference and the exhibition. The seminars, conferences, symposia and the exhibition were organised by PGI Spearhead Ltd with the technical input of The Oceanography Society (TOS). Visitor figures were quite similar to those of OI Americas 2001 but the attendance in the exhibition halls was disappointing.

Vice Admiral (Ret.) Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. (Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere), Head of NOAA, gave the keynote speech following the opening of the conference on Wednesday, 4 June. He mentioned his pleasure at seeing the private and public sectors side by side.

From the Floor
The Exhibition also started on Wednesday and over two hundred exhibitors took part. The quantity of visitors this year was lower than expected, but most exhibitors had a good show and reported the quality of contacts as being very good.
Coastal Oceanographics Inc. demonstrated new features in HYPACK MAX 2.12 hydrographic surveying software. The major change in this latest version is the new 3D terrain viewer. This program is a new tool for data visualisation that allows the user to view in 3D any XYZ data file.
The Aquatec Group showed several new instruments. They launched the Aqualogger 510PT, a 2,000-meter-rated range of precision pressure and temperature loggers. They also introduced the Aqualogger 600 series of attitude and vibration loggers.
Qinetiq and GeoAcoustics Ltd have together produced a new product called GeoSAS. This sonar product makes available to military and commercial users for the first time a high-speed, high-resolution, long-range aperture sonar product with full bathymetric profiling capability.
Midas (multi-inputdat acquisition system) Surveyor is a complete hydrographic survey system that can be installed as an over-the-side package on a launch or RIB in less than twenty minutes. It is the first low-cost hydrographic survey system to have 12 or 16-channel DGPS positioning and was shown by Valeport Ltd, Devon, UK.
Ixsea Oceano SAS showed at OI Americas for the first time their latest technological achievement, GAPS (Global Acoustic positioning System). According to the company, this is a combination of acoustic, inertial and GPS measurements instruments.
EPC Labc, Inc.(Massachusetts) presented and sold at the exhibition its Model 1086, a thermal recorder.
VideoRay LLC showed a new package, especially useful in ocean waters for oilrig inspections with VideoRay ROV. It can be installed and removed on any VideoRay, boosting available thrust and lengthening the maximum tether to 1,500 feet.

The Conference
The TOS-OIA Ocean Conference featured dynamic presentations on several important societal issues related to oceanography, and was well attended by visitors. Highlights included keynote presentations by VADM Conrad Lautenbacher, Ms R.M. Burton (Director of the US Minerals Management Service) and Dr Cortis Cooper (ChevronTexaco).
Special events included presentation of the Walter Munk Award for Distinguished Research in Oceanography Related to Sound and the Sea to Dr Thomas Rossby (Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island). Mr Mark Vardaro of Texas A&M University was named winner of the outstanding student poster.
Experts from international institutions gave presentation on topics including Health of Marine Ecosystems, Public Health, Natural Hazards, National Security, Climate, Living and Non-Living Resources and Marine Operations. The TOS-OIA Ocean Conference provided attendees with the opportunity to acquire the latest information on this broad range of topics during the three-day event.
For more detailed information, visit www.oiamericas.com.