Surveying in the Extremes

Western Ross Sea, Antarctica

In 2007, the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research's (NIWA) deepwater 70m research vessel Tangaroa returned from a voyage to Antarctic waters. It had here continued hydrographic survey work begun in 2001 for New Zealand's national hydrographic authority, Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). It had also completed a biodiversity study of the north-western Ross Sea and around the Balleny Islands (from a depth of about 50m down to about 700m) for the Ministry of Fisheries. NIWA is New Zealand's provider of environmental research and consultancy services in coast, oceans, freshwater, fisheries, atmosphere and climate. In recent years it has... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00

Surveying and Charting

Hydro International Interviews Rear Admiral (R) Andres Roque Di Vincenzo

Surveying, charting and monitoring a complex and vast area which includes features from rivers, waterways, a long Atlantic coast to the Antarctic Peninsula environment, is a very challenging task. Only a well-equipped Governmental Hydrographic Institution can cope with it. The Servicio de Hidrografia Naval (SHN) of the Republic of Argentina, continuously produces the nautical information needed by sailors and the scientific world. In doing this, SHN benefits from its membership of the International Hydrographic Organization and of the Organisation of the Antarctic Treaty. Rear Admiral Di Vincenzo, who has headed the SHN for the past four years, explains how they... (read more)

2011-12-19 03:33:53

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

Coastal Surveying Capabilities

Tenix Lads Corporation

Tenix LADS Corporation (TLC) is a private company based in Adelaide (Australia) with offices in Cairns (Australia), Biloxi (USA) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates), and specialises in contract airborne LiDAR bathymetric services. TLC operates the latest generation laser airborne depth sounder (LADS) LiDAR system, a fast and efficient tool for bathymetric survey in shallow coastal waters. Laser airborne depth sounder (LADS) technology has a development history going back to the 1970s with the needs of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) driving the development of a system to chart the vast tracts of the Australian marine environment. Originally set up by... (read more)

2009-03-27 12:00:00

Surveying the River Dee

The challenges of a mission (im)possible

In April 2004 an unusual vessel, the Afon Dyfwydwy made its first transit down the River Dee carrying the wings for the new Airbus A380. This was the culmination of many years of work for a number of companies, including Pelorus Surveys, and a proud moment for all involved. The Airbus factory at Broughton produces the wings for the Airbus range of aircraft and, to date, these have all been transported to the assembly facility in Toulouse, France using a modified Airbus flying from Broughton. However, each of the wings for the A380 is 48 metres long, 14 metres wide... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00

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 Scheldt

The Flemish Hydrography is responsible for surveying the river Scheldt on Flemish territory up to the lock of Wintam. On the Dutch Western Scheldt Flemish Hydrography surveys only to check the dredged depths in the fairway. On the Flemish Sea Scheldt overall surveys are done for regular national and international charting purposes, besides surveys for very specific projects, such as the maintenance of dredging works. National and international paper charts and digital products (for example ENC’s) are produced for the common user but also for the dedicated users as pilots, engineers, port authorities, shipping companies and research institutes. The river... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00

Software for Hydrographic Surveying

HYPACK, Inc

In 1981, after working with the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office as a field hydrographer and completing a graduate business degree, Pat Sanders founded ’Coastal Oceanographics’. The purpose of the company was to provide hydrographic consulting for companies with large hydrographic survey contracts. As a part of his consulting practice, Sanders wrote Fortran-based programs to manually enter raw hydrographic data to produce smooth sheets. His first ‘portable’ computer was a 40 pound, Columbia Data Systems machine with 640 kilobytes of RAM, a 10 megabyte hard drive, and a yellow monochrome monitor. By 1987, he and a few colleagues had developed an... (read more)

2011-03-16 11:31:42

Surveying Wrecks around Estonia

As a part of its mission to ensure safe navigation, the Estonian Maritime Administration identifies possible navigational hazards in Estonian waters, including potentially dangerous wrecks. Some of these wrecks, especially those lost during WWII, pose a potential environmental threat because of their cargo and fuel. High-resolution multibeam sonar systems help find and identify such wrecks. Read on for some examples of wrecks surveyed using a Teledyne RESON SeaBat 7125. This article has been brought to you by Teledyne RESON. Dago The steamship Dago was built in England in 1912 as a cargo ship. The ship was taken into use by... (read more)

2017-03-23 09:05:46

Surveying in Fluid Mud

The effects on bathymetry of suspended sediment in the water column

Virtually all ports and channels throughout the world are currently monitored using the now familiar acoustic echo sounder. However, the very parameters upon which these instruments are based are often distorted in suspended sediment, resulting in erroneous seafloor indicators. The author reports on workshop discussions during Hydro 2005. In many of the world’s most important ports and harbours the presence of unconsolidated material suspended in the water column requires the hydrographic surveyor to pay particularly close attention to good survey practices and techniques. The high-frequency pulses emitted by most echo sounders reflect off even a very sparse accumulation of material... (read more)

2008-01-01 01:00:00