Effective Surveillance in the Waters of the Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve

Located in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, the Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory and, as of August 2016, home to one of the world's largest fully protected marine reserves. The Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve, almost 3.5 times the size of the United Kingdom at about 830,000 square kilometres (320,465 square miles), serves as a habitat to at least 1,249 species of marine mammals, seabirds, and fish. It safeguards one of the most pristine ocean environments on Earth. But even for wealthy nations, enforcement of reserve rules—such as prohibitions on commercial fishing and seafloor mining—in such a remote area is challenging and expensive. To address that issue, new methods and cutting-edge technologies have been used to develop an enforcement strategy for this reserve

Miniaturized data loggers and computer programming improve seabird risk and damage assessments for marine oil spills in Atlantic Canada

Obtaining useful information on marine birds that can aid in oil spill (and other hydrocarbon release) risk and damage assessments in offshore environments is challenging. Technological innovations in miniaturization have allowed archival data loggers to be deployed successfully on marine birds vulnerable to hydrocarbons on water. A number of species, including murres (both Common, Uria aalge, and Thick-billed, U. lomvia) have been tracked using geolocation devices in eastern Canada, increasing our knowledge of the seasonality and colony-specific nature of their susceptibility to oil on water in offshore hydrocarbon production areas and major shipping lanes. Archival data tags are starting to resolve questions around behaviour of vulnerable seabirds at small spatial scales relevant to oil spill impact modelling, specifically to determine the duration and frequency at which birds fly at sea. Advances in data capture methods using voice activated software have eased the burden on seabird observers who are collecting increasingly more detailed information on seabirds during ship-board and aerial transects. Computer programs that integrate seabird density and bird behaviour have been constructed, all with a goal of creating more credible seabird oil spill risk and damage assessments. In this paper, we discuss how each of these technological and computing innovations can help define critical inputs into seabird risk and damage assessments, and when combined, can provide a more realistic understanding of the impacts to seabirds from any hydrocarbon release

Assessing the potential of autonomous submarine gliders for ecosystem monitoring across multiple trophic levels (plankton to cetaceans) and pollutants in shallow shelf seas

A combination of scientific, economic, technological and policy drivers is behind a recent upsurge in the use of marine autonomous systems (and accompanying miniaturized sensors) for environmental mapping and monitoring. Increased spatial–temporal resolution and coverage of data, at reduced cost, is particularly vital for effective spatial management of highly dynamic and heterogeneous shelf environments. This proof-of-concept study involves integration of a novel combination of sensors onto buoyancy-driven submarine gliders, in order to assess their suitability for ecosystem monitoring in shelf waters at a variety of trophic levels. Two shallow-water Slocum gliders were equipped with CTD and fluorometer to measure physical properties and chlorophyll, respectively. One glider was also equipped with a single-frequency echosounder to collect information on zooplankton and fish distribution. The other glider carried a Passive Acoustic Monitoring system to detect and record cetacean vocalizations, and a passive sampler to detect chemical contaminants in the water column. The two gliders were deployed together off southwest UK in autumn 2013, and targeted a known tidal-mixing front west of the Isles of Scilly. The gliders’ mission took about 40 days, with each glider travelling distances of >1000 km and undertaking >2500 dives to depths of up to 100 m. Controlling glider flight and alignment of the two glider trajectories proved to be particularly challenging due to strong tidal flows. However, the gliders continued to collect data in poor weather when an accompanying research vessel was unable to operate. In addition, all glider sensors generated useful data, with particularly interesting initial results relating to subsurface chlorophyll maxima and numerous fish/cetacean detections within the water column. The broader implications of this study for marine ecosystem monitoring with submarine gliders are discussed

Marine Ship Automatic Identification System (AIS) for Enhanced Coastal Security Capabilities: An Oil Spill Tracking Application

National and international trade via shipping is already significant, and expected to continue increasing rapidly over the next decade. Both more ships and larger ships will contribute to this trade, includingships from countries with less rigorous shipping maintenance and inspection standards than the United States, and less strict pollution monitoring regulations. Changes in ship traffic management protocols have been implemented in recent years in the U.S. to minimize damage to coastlines, particularly near sensitive or protected marine environments. For example, to reduce risk to coastal resources off central California, shipping lanes for larger vessels were moved further offshore to allow for additional response time in case of accidents before such vessels might drift into coastal areas. Similarly, shipsare now routed via specific approach channels when entering Boston Harbor to reduce impacts within adjacent National Marine Sanctuary resources. Several recent high profile cases have occurred where \u27mystery\u27 oil spills were found near shipping channels, but no vessel could be readily identified as their source. These incidents lead to extensive and expensive efforts to attempt to identify the shipsresponsible. As time passes in responding to these incidents, the likelihood of confirming the identity of the ships diminishes. Unfortunately, reports of vessels engaging in illegal oily waste discharge to reduce fees for offloading the waste in port are ongoing. We here discuss use of improved capabilities of near-continuous real-time position location monitoring of shipping traffic using marine AutomaticIdentification Systems (AIS) for ships that would facilitate identification of ships responsible for illegal oily waste discharge. The next phase of the National AIS, N-AIS Increment 2, can supply additional spatial coverage not currently included in the N-AIS Increment 1, which can provide an enhanced capability for monitoring shipping and improving managem- ent of coastal ship traffic and response to pollution incidents. These methods will not only improve response time, but reduce cost of response as well

A lidar-only SLAM algorithm for marine vessels and autonomous surface vehicles

Research into autonomous surface vehicles is noticeably limited in regards to the functionality of the vehicles themselves. Specifically, testing and evaluation typically occurs at speeds considerably lower than what is allowed in an operational setting. For a vessel to be able to take advantage of higher speeds, there must be a robust and tested method for determining localisation and navigation. With an emphasis of development for small vessels with higher impulse capabilities, working in confined and restricted environments, the decision was made to develop a method of navigation that relied solely upon lightweight sensors. For this, a single light ranging sensor was utilised to develop both simultaneous localisation and mapping for the vessel, using the normal distribution transform and iterative closest point methods. Evaluation of the algorithm accuracy as the vessel moved above speeds greater than two metres per second was conducted, and it was feasibly evaluated that there was no observable drift of mapping in horizontal planes, however, there was a accumulated drift in the vertical plane and a transient response in localisation deviation as the vessel changed impulse through the two metre per second window

Launching the Grand Challenges for Ocean Conservation

The ten most pressing Grand Challenges in Oceans Conservation were identified at the Oceans Big Think and described in a detailed working document:A Blue Revolution for Oceans: Reengineering Aquaculture for SustainabilityEnding and Recovering from Marine DebrisTransparency and Traceability from Sea to Shore:  Ending OverfishingProtecting Critical Ocean Habitats: New Tools for Marine ProtectionEngineering Ecological Resilience in Near Shore and Coastal AreasReducing the Ecological Footprint of Fishing through Smarter GearArresting the Alien Invasion: Combating Invasive SpeciesCombatting the Effects of Ocean AcidificationEnding Marine Wildlife TraffickingReviving Dead Zones: Combating Ocean Deoxygenation and Nutrient Runof

Evaluation of Ocean Color Scanner (OCS) photographic and digital data: Santa Barbara Channel test site, 29 October 1975 overflight

A summary of Ocean Color Scanner data was examined to evaluate detection and discrimination capabilities of the system for marine resources, oil pollution and man-made sea surface targets of opportunity in the Santa Barbara Channel. Assessment of the utility of OCS for the determination of sediment transport patterns along the coastal zone was a secondary goal. Data products provided 1975 overflight were in digital and analog formats. In evaluating the OCS data, automated and manual procedures were employed. A total of four channels of data in digital format were analyzed, as well as three channels of color combined imagery, and four channels of black and white imagery. In addition, 1:120,000 scale color infrared imagery acquired simultaneously with the OCS data were provided for comparative analysis purposes

Challenges related to drilling further north in the Norwegian Arctic

Master's thesis in Petroleum engineeringThe world’s energy demands are increasing rapidly and the oil & gas industry is forced to search for new acreages for exploration and production. The Arctic is expected to contain a vast amount of the remaining undiscovered hydrocarbons on this planet, thus making it an attractive region that could be essential for securing energy supplies for the future. The Arctic is however regarded as the most challenging area on the Earth, due to its extremely harsh conditions. Remoteness, cold temperatures, ice, rapid change in weather and long periods of darkness are some of the main conditions that can be expected. In other words, the region will add numerous challenges to the drilling and production operations. Large distances, lack of infrastructure, severe ice conditions and communicational issues are only some of the challenges the industry will have to overcome. This master thesis will be focusing on the challenges related to drilling and production in the Arctic, and the available technology and knowledge that exist to overcome them. With this in mind, the challenges that are relevant for the Norwegian Arctic when moving further north. will be reviewed and discussed. The usefulness of different rig types for exploration and field developments in the arctic will be presented, along with some modified versions, which are specifically made for application in the Arctic. Ice management and overcoming the large distances seems the most challenging for the next step of exploratory drilling in ice-infested waters located in remote areas. The capacity and reliance on an adequate communicational system will also play a huge role of arctic operations. Cooperation might be the key to success, not only for overcoming the operational and technical challenges, but also to get the social acceptance, political support and to make operations economically feasibl

Remote sensing in the coastal and marine environment. Proceedings of the US North Atlantic Regional Workshop

Presentations were grouped in the following categories: (1) a technical orientation of Earth resources remote sensing including data sources and processing; (2) a review of the present status of remote sensing technology applicable to the coastal and marine environment; (3) a description of data and information needs of selected coastal and marine activities; and (4) an outline of plans for marine monitoring systems for the east coast and a concept for an east coast remote sensing facility. Also discussed were user needs and remote sensing potentials in the areas of coastal processes and management, commercial and recreational fisheries, and marine physical processes