Candidates Presenting for IHO Office

First IHO Assembly to Elect Secretary-General and Directors

During the first IHO Assembly taking place from 24 to 28 April 2017 in Monaco, the represented Member States will elect the new Secretary-General and directors. There are currently nine candidates. 'Hydro International' posed the same 5 questions to all of them. Read on for a multi-interview in which they present themselves. The full interviews are available at www.hydro-international.com/iho-2017 . Giuseppe Angrisano and Joost Boers, Hydro International Some coastal states are not yet members of the IHO. How do you envisage improving the number of the IHO Member States? Bessero I would continue to focus on raising awareness of governments and other decision-makers... (read more)

2017-03-13 11:22:59

Improving Overall Resolution of Bathymetric Survey

Integrated Use of Multi-beam Echo Sounder and Towed Interferometric Sonar

Designing offshore engineering facilities requires large amounts of information. To acquire it, suites of engineering and geophysical surveys are run, which as a rule include such techniques of seabed and sub-bottom investigation as seismic profiling, acoustic, magnetic and bathymetric surveys. Obtaining accurate and detailed seabed bathymetry is extremely important because the quality of other surveys depends on the quality of the bathymetry. One of the most accurate and cost-effective ways to acquire high-resolution bathymetric data is the use of shipborne bathymetric systems such as multi-beam echo sounders (MBES) or interferometers. The drawback of this method is that the resolution of... (read more)

2012-04-19 03:50:13

Hydrography in the Far East

Interview with Associate Prof. Dr Mohd Razali Mahmud

There is much current activity on the hydrographic scene in the Far East region; the area was hit by the Tsunami, 26th December 2004. The region is also on the doorstep of China, a country undergoing enormous economic growth and a consequent growing market for hydrographic surveying. Have developments in China any other consequences for the hydrographic community in the Far East? Associate Professor Dr Mohd Razali Mahmud, Head of Hydrography, Institute for Geospatial Science and Technology of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) agreed to be interviewed by Hydro international (HI) on the matter. Please give our readers a summary... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00

Small Boat Work – Dangerous Then, Dangerous Today

The ability to conduct inshore hydrographic surveys has always been dependent on small boats and the seamanship of those conducting the surveys. Besides the obvious use of small boats for the acquisition of soundings and their accompanying positions, it was not so long ago that many surveys of remote and open coastlines also had to transport topographic and geodetic survey crews to shore camps or daily work areas. Although the nature of both shore work and hydrographic work has changed somewhat over the years, small boat work with its attendant dangers has remained a constant. Before the days of radio... (read more)

2016-09-27 04:24:02

Geomares: Quality is Our Motto

Hydro International Interviews Durk Haarsma and Meine van der Bijl

Geomares Publishing is the new media company behind Hydro international, which in October took over ownership from the magazine’s previous publisher of almost ten years, Reed Business Geo. Publishing director of Geomares Durk Haarsma has strong in-house brands, dynamic publishing concepts for the future and a dedicated team who will keep working to deliver quality in every possible way. Could you outline your reasons for buying Hydro international and establishing Geomares Publishing? I have been in post as publisher of Hydro international now for five years and have a strong belief in Hydro international as a flagship brand. Together with... (read more)

2009-12-29 01:46:53

Supply Hydrographic Personnel

Hydro INTERNATIONAL Interviews Johan Stam, Business Development Manager, Atlas Services Group

There is a global shortage of hydrographic surveyors. The industry is faced with an interesting challenge and looks to specialised education facilities and personnel suppliers to assist in solving this problem. Even in times of high unemployment it can be difficult to find sufficient skilled personnel to carry out hydrographic survey work in the offshore environment. Hydrographic educational institutions around the world are struggling to attract enough students, resulting in noticeable shortages of trainees within the survey departments of large and small survey contracting companies. Although working conditions have improved considerably over recent decades, the environment in which hydrographic surveyors... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00

Mariners Need More Current Hydrographic Data

Hydro International Interviews Rear Admiral Christian Andreasen, NOAA (Ret.)

Almost 50 years in hydrography gives you insight and authority to talk about the field and the changes it has gone through in half a century. Rear Admiral Christian Andreasen talks about his career. He is certainly not somebody who only looks back, but is still looking into the future, sharing strong ideas about where hydrography will need to go: ‘Mariners do not understand why hydrographic offices are not more supportive. Finding ways of providing mariners with more current data is an issue.’ Since the 1960s, when you became a hydrographer up to the present, the means and techniques for... (read more)

2012-06-06 03:35:09

Assessing the Quality of Soundings

Ensuring that your hydrographic data complies with the latest standards can be difficult, particularly as standards continually change with new advances in technology. Simon Squibb discusses a ‘binning’ technique that may improve data confidence for surveyors and clients. The standards for hydrographic measurements are regularly reviewed to cope with advances in technology and the demand for higher accuracy data, which continually increases. For example, last year the 4th edition of the international standard, IHO S44 (1), was modified by various hydrographic authorities to meet wider application. To aid their surveyors in assessing the quality of data collected, Andrews Survey has... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00

Lessons Learned From the AF447 Search

Hydro International Interviews Mike Purcell

It was a rainy day at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. The scenery reminds me of the Twin Peaks atmosphere. I am about to interview Mike Purcell, the man whose search team finally found the wreckage of flight AF447 in the deep ocean in 2011. Only five years after this tragedy a second airliner, the MH370, vanished into the deep ocean. Major search operations have been going on since then. Hydro International found this to be a good reason to look back with Mike and see what lessons have been learned in this deep ocean search operation. When did WHOI get... (read more)

2015-01-29 03:25:33

Sharing the Wealth

Towards an Ocean Sensing Network

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and associated undersea technologies have demonstrated exceptional current utility and great growth potential for military, governmental and commercial maritime agencies as well as for ocean research institutions. While sustained and aggressive research, development, testing and evaluation is still in order, the technology is available now to benefit potential consumers with the incredible range of data these systems can already provide. Although unmanned systems in other domains (air, ground, and space) have experienced rapid growth resulting from wartime necessities, there remains a prevalent ‘wait and see’ mindset about unmanned undersea systems among those who work in and... (read more)

2012-07-26 02:59:17