Riverbed Surveying

Hydromapping - High Resolution Shallow Water Mapping from an Airborne Platform

In order to meet the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD), authorities face the problem of performing area-wide surveys of all kinds of inland waters repeatedly. Especially for mid-sized and small rivers, a traditional survey approach imposes almost insurmountable logistical efforts and costs. Employing the new airborne hydrographic laser scanner RIEGL VQ-820-G, potential large-scale surveying of a river system is exemplarily demonstrated on the river Loisach in southern Germany, carried out by the company AirborneHydroMapping (AHM) and the University of Innsbruck. By Martin Pfennigbauer, RIEGL, and Frank Steinbacher, University of Innsbruck, Austria. In co-operation with the Bavarian Water... (read more)

2012-03-08 04:33:36

Chinese Surveying

Japan has protested against alleged surveillance activities by a Chinese vessel near disputed islands. Japan says it spotted a Chinese ship early on Sunday that was apparently carrying out research in what Tokyo considers its waters in the East China Sea. It says the Chinese ship was surveying an area about 30 kilometres west of Uotsuri Island and left after verbal warnings from a Japanese patrol boat. Japan issued a protest to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, which said it would check the details of the incident. (read more)

2007-02-06 11:12:24

Surveying the Venetian Lagoon

The world's best-known estuarine lagoon has been of tremendous historical importance in sheltering the city of Venice. It is an ever-changing environment with only 8% covered by land, 12% by open water and the remaining 80% by mud flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes. This geographical setting, hosting complex ecosystems, is influenced by tidal cycles entering through three sea inlets and freshwater and sediment supplied by river influx. The Venice Institute of Marine Science (ISMAR-CNR) is engaged in numerous projects regarding researching and monitoring the lagoon. Monitoring changes to the environment is becoming ever-more important in view of... (read more)

2012-01-23 10:44:08

Ice-jam Flood Surveying

The large, poleward flowing rivers of Siberia, such as the Ob River, experience persistent and severe floods when river ice breaks up in the spring. Ice-jams are common on the Tom River, a tributary of the Ob, resulting in a rapid rise in water levels upstream of the jam and submergence of thousands of homes. Furthermore, a sudden breach of the ice-jam releases a flood wave that can cause extensive damage downstream. By Ray A. Kostaschuk, Simon Fraser University, Canada; Dmitriy A. Vershinin; Valeri A. Zemtsov, Tomsk State University, Western Siberia, Russia. Floods in large rivers are caused by a... (read more)

2014-08-12 10:34:55

Handbooks of Offshore Surveying

This three-volume Handbook of Offshore Surveying has been written by hydrographic surveyors, geophysicists, survey engineers, rov pilots, geodesists, captains, project managers, geologists and land surveyors. All examples detailed in the Handbook are derived from situations encountered in their years as Surveyors offshore and onshore around the world. The three volumes comprise of: Projects, Preparation & Processing (Volume I ); Positioning & Tides (Volume II) and Acquisition Sensors (Volume III). Skilltrade was founded to provide vocational training to professionals who are affiliated with the offshore survey industry. Because of the demand for training in general, courses are now also... (read more)

2011-02-09 03:02:37

Canadian Arctic Surveying

For the third year running James Williams has ventured into the Canadian Arctic with Aquatics to support land and hydrographic survey work for Shell Canada, Shell Oil, Devon, EnCana and Esso. The team of seven, including local Inuit to protect them from the unpredictable wildlife, camped rough through the Arctic tundra river system of the Mackenzie Delta. Using the latest sonar technology in the form of a Ross Sweep system with 6 transducers mounted on a 15m boom, water depths from 5m to less than 1m were consistently mapped in many of the shallow areas that are located at the... (read more)

2007-01-08 03:55:10

Surveying Lac de Vassivière

Together with the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Development of Ocean Mapping (CIDCO) in Canada, French engineering school ENSTA Bretagne, the University of Ghent in Belgium and the HCU University in Germany conducted an intensive hydrographic and topographic survey training programme at the artificial Lac de Vassivière in France in October 2011. The project lasted three weeks, during which the students were placed in real working conditions and had to face challenging situations, such as surveying in very shallow waters, poor GPS coverage, variable water column conditions depending on time of day and processing large volumes of data in a short... (read more)

2012-07-24 04:44:52

Opportunistic Multibeam Surveying

Deep-sea Research Expeditions Expand Multibeam Bathymetric Map of Seafloor

Currently only ten to fifteen percent of the ocean floor has been mapped at resolutions of 100-metre pixel size or better and the vast majority of this mapped area is within territorial waters. One way to significantly increase seafloor coverage is to outsource data collection to non-hydrographic vessels or ships of opportunity. However, data currently being collected by these vessels are largely unmanaged, leading to possible redundant coverage and/or inconsistent quality. It is a good idea that the scientific and hydrographic communities make effective use of ships of opportunity in order to optimise data collection in the immense areas in... (read more)

2015-08-26 11:54:30

Surveying the Coast

Chris Ransome & Associates, Inc. (CRA, Inc.)

Based out of Houston, Texas, USA, CRA is the specialist hydrographic survey company on the Gulf Coast. As a provider of hydrographic surveying solutions, CRA specialises in using the latest automated data acquisition systems and offering other technical marine-based services such as sediment sampling, hazard surveys and underwater inspections. In 1987, a team of five experienced land and offshore surveyors who had spent several years working in the oil industry came together to form a company to provide survey services to the Gulf Coast civil engineering sector. Leading the venture was former ex-president of Wimpol, Inc. and Aquanav, Inc., Chris... (read more)

2013-05-22 04:16:58

Surveying for Offshore Wind

Developing the Third Market

Many giants are drilling for oil and gas: the gold of the sea. Since the beginning of the new millennium, however, a new kind of energy potential of the sea has been discovered: wind energy. The fastest way to create substantial amounts of this green energy is to build offshore wind farms. The seas have space enough, the wind yield is higher than on shore and the visual impact, which is so often a difficult hurdle to overcome on shore, is not an issue at sea. Wind energy is characterised by renewability and sustainability, both of which are important issues, as we... (read more)

2009-09-02 12:00:00