Follow Underwater Mapping Expedition Live

From now until the end of November 2013, exploration vessel Nautilus will be exploring the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The rotating exploration corps aboard EV Nautilus will be mapping the geological, biological, archaeological and chemical aspects of these regions to depths of approximately 2,000 metres. Discoveries made during the expedition will be shared live on the web via telepresence technology, bringing the unexplored ocean directly to the screens of visitors to the mission's website. The 2013 expedition season consists of multiple cruise legs and will begin off the U.S. coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Subsequent cruise... (read more)

2013-06-25 08:49:14

Mapping and Modelling SS Polwell

Originally constructed in the North East of England in 1888, the SS Polwell was used by German forces at the start of World War I. However, early on in the war, the vessel was captured off Gibraltar by the British Admiralty and requisitioned into service as a defensively armed merchant ship. The SS Polwell was torpedoed off the Irish coast by a German submarine in 1918. Now, after resting on the seabed for almost a century, details of this historic shipwreck have been revealed using the latest multibeam sonar technology and CARIS HIPS and SIPS software. On 5 June 1918, the... (read more)

2016-03-03 03:24:42

Seabed Mapping and Inspection 2013

The annual Seabed Mapping and Inspection conference took place from 6 to 8 February 2013 in Geilo, Norway. The conference had more than 150 participants, and included people working with technology development, survey and inspection in the marine segment of the oil and gas industry. The conference was held in Geilo, a beautiful winter paradise with 39 downhill slopes and 550km cross country tracks, more or less as far away from the ocean as you can get in Norway. With generous lunch breaks allowing for skiing, or just soaking in the spa, the conference had an informal atmosphere combined with a... (read more)

2013-05-22 04:31:31

Efficiencies in Coastal Zone Mapping

Hawk Eye II, the unique airborne laser technology from aerial imaging specialist Blom, is flying high at Ocean Business with a high speed upgrade delivering faster, more efficient data gathering and imaging for shallow water and coastline surveys. The only technology able to capture accurate data simultaneously from both land and seabed terrain, gathering bathymetric, topographic and photographic imagery all in one pass, Hawk Eye LiDAR is already proving a valuable tool for enhancing the feasibility, quality and speed of coastal and nautical mapping, operating at typically 60% of the cost of traditional hydrographic survey methods and with... (read more)

2009-04-01 11:40:36

Mapping Cold Water Coral Reef

In recent trials off Trondheim, Norway, the GeoSwath Plus swath bathymetry and side scan system was used for the first time on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to map cold water coral reefs. The objective of the survey was to test how effective the GeoSwath was as a ROV mounted sonar for identifying cold-water coral colonies. At 60m deep the Tautra ridge in Trondheim Fjord is home to world’s shallowest known cold-water coral reef, and was an ideal site for initial system trials. The corals seen there usually thrive in much deeper waters. The GeoSwath was deployed on a Minerva... (read more)

2007-02-12 09:24:28

Mapping Inspired by the Imagination

Sand maps were commonly used by Indigenous Australians over their 40,000 year history, to communicate local topography, significant landmarks and the location of water.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Australian National Library in Canberra to view the exhibition ‘Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita to Australia’. This exhibition showcased some of the most significant milestones in the history of mapping and discovery of Australia and included Australian Indigenous paintings, a Babylonian clay tablet thought to be the oldest surviving world map, the works of Ptolemy and rare medieval maps. It also explored the development in projections by Mercator and chronicled the expansion of Dutch commercial trading and the voyages of discovery of the Portuguese, Spanish, English and French. Maps have stirred the... (read more)

2014-05-02 02:13:09

Mapping a Roman Shipwreck Site

A 3rd century AD Roman shipwreck site, off the coast of Sicily has been inspiring archaeologists with its array of historical treasures. The wreck site was first discovered in May 2006 under 92 metres of water during a survey of the Sicilian coast. It was an enormous find with an artefact distribution suggesting it was once a vessel 15 - 20 metres long, possibly larger. Objects recovered from the wreck site included ceramics, concretions and possibly hull timbers. These artefacts are currently undergoing extensive study to identify the date and further detail of the ship and its final journey.... (read more)

2008-07-24 09:52:59

OceanWise to Supply Marine Mapping

UK-based OceanWise has been awarded the framework contract for the supply of marine mapping data to the Scottish government. This award means that OceanWise is now the supplier of choice to all UK government organisations requiring marine data for use in desktop and web GIS, including the Welsh government, Northern Ireland government, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Natural England and the Environment Agency. The framework contract will involve delivery and maintenance of OceanWise’s Raster Charts and its third generation marine mapping product, Marine Themes, which includes a high-resolution Seabed Digital Elevation Model. The data will be delivered as... (read more)

2014-05-08 08:56:06

INIS Hydro Seabed Mapping Project

Maritime & Coastguard Agency

Since January 2011, an ambitious EU-funded seabed mapping project has been surveying and charting 7 key marine areas off the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the west coast of Scotland. Their mission? To harmonise and integrate cross-border baseline marine data collection between the UK and Ireland. Led by the UK’s Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), INIS Hydro is a groundbreaking scientific partnership between 7 leading marine organisations, drawn from across the British Isles: · Agri-food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI); · Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI); · Irish Marine Institute (MI); · Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB); · Scottish Association for... (read more)

2014-04-07 01:19:35

Jason 2 Begins Mapping Oceans

Less than a month after launch, the NASA-French space agency Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason 2 oceanography satellite has produced its first complete maps of global ocean surface topography, surface wave height and wind speed. The new data will help scientists monitor changes in global sea level and the distribution of heat in the ocean. This information is used to monitor climate change and ocean circulation, and to enable more accurate weather, ocean and climate forecasts. The data reveal patterns of sea level anomalies, which are used by scientists to calculate the speed and direction of ocean surface... (read more)

2008-09-03 10:15:33