Currents

W h a t ’ s n e W

Report from thesection VP

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OCeans’10RoundupPage 12

students’ Views ofLeadership Meeting

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I n t h I s I s s u e : MTS Conference News 2

Society News 3

Members & Others in the News 5

Section News 6

Professional Committees News 10

Business News 14

Science and Technology News 17

Legislative News 19

Education News 20

Resources News 22

Ocean Community Calendar 23

See Best Papers on page 23

news from the Marine technology societyN O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0

V O L U M E 3 3 , N O . 6

Best Journal Papers Lauded at OCEANS’10

TechSurge 2011

Ocean PollutionPage 2

See Election on page 4

Membership Elects Michel, Hardy, Kill

Drew Michel shows off the new Underwater Robotics, which Jill Zande has just presented to him at the MTS Board of Directors meeting during OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle. The book, for students and educators interested in subsea technology, is published by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, of which Zande is assistant director. Michel, chair of the ROV Committee, provided reviews, information and contacts, while the ROV Committee provided some funding.

T he membership voted Drew Michel to be president-elect of the Society during the August–September election. Two incumbents, Kevin Hardy and Debbi Kill, were re-electedto their positions as vice pres-ident of section affairs and as treasurer and vice president of budget and finance, respectively. The two-year positions run from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2012. Michel thanked all who sup-ported him and said that in his new position he would “continue to work to strengthen the ties between academia and industry, and use my position on the board and as president in two years to continue the quest to help more young people under-stand that there are inter-

M TS handed out $1,500 to the winner and runner-up of the MTS Journal Outstanding Manuscript Awards at the MTS Awards Luncheon during OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle.

Taking the top prize of $1,000 was “Foundation Design: A Comparison of Oil and Gas Platforms with Off-

shore Wind Turbines” by James A. Schneider, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin-Madison, and Marc Senders, Ph.D., with the Australian oil and gas company Woodside. The paper, published in volume 44, number 1, was an extension of a pres-entation at the 2009 TechSurge

Workshop, Marine Technology for Offshore Wind Power. Unbe-knownst to the Outstanding Manuscript judges—all from the MTS Journal Editorial Board—Schneider’s paper was the most purchased and ref-erenced Journal paper of the year.

Currents N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 02

Currents, published bimonthly, is a membership benefit of the Marine Technology Society, the leading multidisciplinary society for marine professionals. Individual membership is $75. Life membership is a one-time $1,000.

To join MTS, visit the website at www.mtsociety.org or e-mail [email protected].

Send information for Currents to [email protected].

the deadline to get items in the next issue of Currents is December 10.

Send address changes to [email protected]

O F F I C E R SPresidentElizabeth [email protected]

President-electJerry [email protected]

Immediate Past PresidentBruce C. Gilman, [email protected]

VP – section affairsKevin [email protected]

VP – education and ResearchJill [email protected]

VP – Industry and technologyJerry C. [email protected]

VP – PublicationsKarin [email protected]

treasurer and VP – Budget and FinanceDebra [email protected]

VP – Government and Public affairsJustin [email protected]

executive DirectorRichard [email protected]

editor-in-ChiefSusan [email protected]

Arctic Technology ConferenceFebruary 7–9, 2011 Houston, Texas www.arctictechnologyconference.orgRegistration for this inaugural Offshore Technology Conference has opened. Save $100 by registering before January 18, 2011. Scheduled plenary speakers are Mark Shrimpton, senior associate, Socio-Economic Services with Stantec Consulting, Canada; Marc Blaizot, senior vice president, Total SA; and MTS member and author Stewart B. Nelson. For a look at the program, click the “Oral Sessions” links on the conference website.

Underwater Intervention 2011February 22–24, 2011 New Orleans, La. www.underwaterintervention.comThe deadline to submit abstracts is December 15. A number of MTS professional committees are soliciting abstracts for their programs: Cables and Connectors, Manned Underwater Vehicles and Moorings. To find the individual calls, go to www.mtsociety.org/conferences/Underwater.aspx. Speakers and presenters will receive a complimentary registration for the entire conference as well as other benefits.

Exhibitors are encouraged to leverage their booths with a technical brief. While overt marketing is not welcome in the technical program, discussions of engineering challenges and developments of new products are encouraged. Please submit proposals of 200-500 words via email to [email protected] or [email protected] to reserve a place in the lineup. In one file (.doc, .PDF or .txt) please include the abstract body, author’s name, affiliation, contact information and submission type (tutorial, panel or technical presentation).

Consider volunteering as a moderator in a technical session. Moderators get the same free registration and other benefits as presenters. As a moderator, you arrive early to lend assistance to speakers if needed, introduce the speakers and keep the session running on time as scheduled.

Don’t miss these special conference events: The Early Bird Reception—a tradition at UI—on February 21 from 6–9 p.m.; and the Annual UI Awards Dinner at the Marriott Convention Center Hotel on February 22 from 7–9 p.m. with dinner, wine and the presentation of scholarships and awards by the conference’s co-sponsors, the MTS ROV Committee and the Association of Diving Contractors International.

2011 International Rope Technology WorkshopMarch 22–24, 2011 Texas A&M University-College Station www.mtsociety.org/conferences/Rope.aspxThis year’s 9th international workshop is being co-sponsored by the International Organization for the Study of the Endurance of Ropes (OIPEEC) and the Offshore Technology Research CenterFor more information about the workshop and to offer your services, contact [email protected].

TechSurge 2011Ocean Pollution: From Technology to Management and PolicyApril 13–14, 2011 Sarasota, Fla. www.mtsociety.org/conferences/techsurgeThis two-day workshop will identify the needs and gaps among the various forms of pollution that affect our oceans and coasts, and include cutting-edge tool demonstrations. Attendees will have the opportunity to help develop an ocean pollution scorecard that highlights the top technology gaps in each ocean pollution topic presented at the workshop. A special half-day session will be devoted to oil spill technology: Policy/Management, Restoration, Lessons Learned, Mitigation and Detection. Please monitor the website for updates. The conference is being chaired by Jake Sobin ([email protected]). This is a can’t-miss event for all marine communities, especially the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and NOAA.

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Currents N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 3

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Society News

t the recent OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle Conference and Exhibition, so ably hosted by our Puget Sound Section, it was my honor to deliver my last State of the Society address. It has been a privilege to serve as the MTS president for the past two years, and I know you all agree that I’ll be handing the reins over to an outstanding steward when I leave office at the end of the year. Jerry Boatman has served MTS long and well and will be an exceptional president.

Details of MTS activities over the past year have appeared on our website, in E-News, in our newsletter, and can be found throughout this issue of Currents. For now, I’d like to provide just a few highlights.

First, I want to assure you that the Society remains finan-cially healthy. Although we felt the downturn of the economy like everyone else, we have regained about 80 percent of the loss in our investments, and our recovery is tracking along with the DOW index. We have ample income and reserves to continue to support our expanding member services and to fund strategic initiatives to move the Society forward.

We revised the Strategic Plan this year and it will soon be available on the MTS website. One of our strategic initiatives involves expanding our international presence. First, of course, was the establishment of our new Newfoundland and Lab-rador Section. This summer, Jerry Boatman and past-president Andy Clark, our delegate to the Intergovernmental Oceano-graphic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), hosted an MTS reception at a UNESCO ocean meeting in Paris. We also participated in OCEANS’10 IEEE Sydney in Australia and Oceanology Interna-tional in London. We are exploring options for more aggres-sively and systematically identifying new areas around the world where MTS can flourish, and identifying new opportunities where MTS can assist our corporate members to expand their international markets.

Our sections and committees have been ramping up their activities. We know this because Currents keeps growing in

order to accommodate all the news. Special events included the outstanding Trieste 50th Anniversary celebration organized by the San Diego Section. The MTS Journal special issue on the Trieste included a hard-cover version—a first for us. And this year will be the first to have six Journal issues. Individual issue sales are doing very well—the impact of the Journal and MTS is extending well beyond our membership.

The Washington, D.C., Section launched the Adm. James D. Watkins Honorary Lecture Series, and one of the most exciting things to come out of the sections in the past few years has been the Young Professionals group in Houston. Stephen Faleye met with the MTS Council during OCEANS’10 and gen-erated a lot of excitement about how their model can be adapted to reach more of the Society’s younger members to ensure their success and the future of our industry.

Our active committees continue to sponsor important con-ferences and workshops. The UI Conference was so successful that the ROV Committee was able to generously provide for an additional 14 MTS Scholarships this year!

As we all know, the heart of the annual OCEANS MTS/IEEE conference is the quality of the technical program. MTS and our partner, the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, strive to develop a powerful set of presentations that reflect the interests of our members. The exhibition is the engine that helps make the con-ference possible. This year, MTS took the lead to improve the experience for our exhibitors and attendees. Chris Barrett, MTS director of professional development and meetings, worked with the Local Organizing Committee to add value to the exhibition, and if you were at OCEANS, I hope you noticed some positive additions this year. (See story on page 4.)

While these efforts to improve the return on investment for our core exhibitors continue, we’ll be turning our attention to ways in which we can expand our exhibitor base to those com-panies that should be at OCEANS but, for whatever reason, haven’t yet chosen to be there.

I had been looking forward to having the opportunity at the MTS Awards Luncheon to acknowledge the Society’s debt to Bruce Gilman, who will conclude his term as immediate past president at the end of the year. Unfortunately, he was not able to be there. Although we will miss Bruce’s clear vision and wry humor, the cycle continues and the Board will be gaining the experience, wit and wisdom of Drew Michel, our new pres-ident-elect. Debbi Kill and Kevin Hardy were reelected for second terms. I would like to congratulate them and thank all the candidates for their willingness to volunteer for a lead-ership role. The Board, along with the Council and staff are committed to continuing to work to improve the Society for the benefit of our members. n

From the President

State of theSociety 2010Liz Corbin

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Society News

Chris Barrett, MTS meetings planner, and Mary Beth Loutinsky, marketing, ran the exhibitors’ programs at the MTS booth during OCEANS’10. (Photo courtesy of Stan Chamberlain)

MTS Plans Future Participation in OCEANSAt its biannual meeting, the MTS Board of Directors, under the leadership of President Liz Corbin, approved the venues and participation of MTS in several OCEANS conferences. Once again MTS will fully participate in an overseas OCEANS conference, continuing its commitment to connecting MTS business members with overseas opportunities. The con-ference is planned for Genoa, Italy, in 2015. Board members also approved proposals from the Joint Ocean Administrative Board (JOAB) to hold OCEANS’14 MTS/IEEE in St. John’s, New-foundland, and for MTS to be a technical co-sponsor of the OCEANS’14 IEEE Taipei Conference. JOAB comprises members of MTS and the Oceanic Engineering Society of IEEE. It acts as the liaison between the organizing committees and the societies in coordinating and guiding the activities related to OCEANS con-ferences and exhibitions. n

Electioncontinued from page 1

esting lives and careers ahead of them.” Michel, chair of the MTS ROVProfessional Committee for 18 years and co-chair of the annual Underwater Intervention Conference, will retain those roles as he assumes his new position on the board. “The ROV Committee and UI both have solid management structures lead by people like Chuck Richards, Aimee

Business Members Get Boost at OCEANS’10 TS brought several new programs to the exhibit area of OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle in October: two panel discus-sions with people in the U.S. and Canadian governments, a passport program and a scratch-off-card giveaway.

The two panel discussions brought exhibitors together to brainstorm with representa-tives from the U.S. Commercial Service, Department of State and Export-Import Bank, and the Canadian government on ways to expand business oppor-tunities overseas. The panels where so well received, MTS plans to make them a regular feature of the conference. Ted Brockett, president of Sound Ocean Systems, Inc., and co-chair of OCEANS’10, noted in an e-mail from Russia, “From a small-business (trying to expand its international presence) perspective, I found the meetings very useful. For example, we discussed what the Commercial Service folks could do to help us at both the local and national levels. We now have names and contact info for ‘real people’ within the Commercial Service organi-zation. The companies that didn’t participate don’t know

The scratch-off cards brought attendees to the MTS booth to receive prizes, like hats and water bottles, from the 24 participating exhib-itors whose names were listed on the cards. Some prizes were donated by exhibitors, and MTS staff walked each winner to the exhibitor’s booth to collect the prizes. “We thought the passport and the scratch-off card would be great ways to drive traffic to exhibitors, and we were right. The response

what they’re missing.”MTS held a similar panel

for American exhibitors last year at Oceanology Interna-tional in London. “The oppor-tunities to go into new markets overseas are out there—we just have to help our members find them,” MTS Executive Director Rich Lawson said. “These panel discussions are just the beginning. MTS is working on other proposals that we hope will prove even more helpful to our business members.”

For the passport and scratch-off programs, each reg-istered member at the con-ference received a “passport” and scratch-off card. The pass-ports listed 23 exhibitors. Attendees visited each of these exhibitors to get their pass-ports stamped and then turned the completed passports into the MTS booth to participate in a drawing for prizes. Jesse Bikman, a student member from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte who was at OCEANS’10 for the MTS Student Leadership Meeting, walked away the happy winner of an iPod Touch. Seven other winners received gift packages with items donated by partici-pating exhibitors.

from the exhibitors was enthu-siastic,” Lawson said. n

Marsh, Rebecca Roberts and Bill Crowley, the current ADCI president. With their ample help, I will have no trouble devoting sufficient time and energy to these multiple roles,” Michel said, adding that retaining his roles as ROV Com-mittee chair and UI co-chair would help him achieve his goals as MTS president-elect and later as president. (ADCI is the Association of Diving Con-tractors International, which co-sponsors the Underwater Intervention Conference with the MTS ROV Committee.)

Debbi Kill, controller for International Submarine Engi-neering, noted in an e-mail that she was “delighted to be given the opportunity to serve the Society and its members for another two years. While we have made great strides in tightening our budget and financial reporting processes, there is still much work to be done. I look forward to con-tinuing my efforts in those areas during my second term.”

Kevin Hardy, vice pres-ident of Deep Sea Power & Light, said, “I am excited and

grateful to rejoin the board of MTS for another two years to advocate for our local committees. This is a green moment in the history of MTS, a time when our Society will grow and flourish in the immediate days ahead. We have intelligent and collabo-rative members on the Board, a capable and willing staff in our home office, energetic and dedicated volunteers in our sections, and an imaginative strategic plan woven with common sense to guide us into the future.” n

Currents N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 �

Members and Others in the News

Shea Ranks HighCongratulations to Evalyn Shea, whose company, Shea Writing & Training Solutions, was ranked 81st out of Houston, Texas’s 100 fastest growing companies. The company grew 11.18 percent from 2007 to 2009 (all companies were ranked by percentage of revenue growth over the past two years). The 13-year-old company also made the list in 2000, 2007 and 2008. Houston’s 100 fastest growing companies were honored at the Houston Fast 100 luncheon presented by the Houston

Business Journal. Ten of the 100 companies went through a rigorous interviewing process to compete for the Enterprise Champion award presented at the luncheon. Shea Writing & Training Solutions was one of the four winners. The Enterprise Champion award is awarded to well-rounded companies that offer great benefits to employees, maintain a strong company culture and give back to their communities.

Innovation AwardCongratulations to Liquid Robotics of Sunnyvale, Calif., which was named by the Wall Street Journal as the winner of its 2010 Technology Innovation Award for Robotics. The company’s Wave GliderTM unmanned maritime vehicle was highlighted as a sig-nificant achievement that (1) breaks with conventional ideas in its field, (2) goes beyond marginal improvements on something that already exists and (3) will have a wide impact on future technology in its field. Full coverage of the 2010 awards is in the September 27, 2010, issue of the Journal and available online. The patented Wave Glider harvests solar and wave energy to provide a persistent presence in the ocean. As a complement to moorings, vessels and other tools, the Wave Glider enables more efficient and comprehensive ocean exploration, research and monitoring.

New PresidentGeir Håøy has been appointed president of MTS member Kongsberg Maritime and will join the Group Corporate Management Team in Kongsberg. Håøy has worked for Kongsberg since June 1993, holding various management positions since 1996. Håøy succeeds Torfinn Kildal, president since 1999.

Education AwardKudos to George I. Matsumoto, Ph.D., of MTS member Monterey

Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), who was honored with the Commitment to Education Award from QuikScience. The award recognizes educators who make outstanding contribu-tions to ocean science education and who have demonstrated an interest and commitment to developing and implementing effective and innovative approaches to learning and teaching of ocean sciences. Matsumoto is a senior education and research specialist for MBARI.

Sound AwardKelly Benoit-Bird, an oceanographer from Oregon State Uni-versity, has been selected as one of 23 recipients of a pres-tigious 2010 MacArthur Fellowship. Popularly called “Genius Awards,” the 2010 fellowships include a $500,000 stipend to further the recipient’s scholarship. Using acoustics and other sophisticated technologies, Benoit-Bird studies the interrela-tionships of animals in different marine environments. Her inno-vative uses of sonar in tracking marine creatures from Humboldt squid to spinner dolphins have led to new discoveries about their feeding behavior, movements and even communication.

OTC Brasil Co-ChairsThe Offshore Technology Conference Board of Directors has named Ricardo Juiniti Bernardo, wells operations executive manager of OGX, and David Brookes, chief engineer of subsea and floating systems for BP, as co-chairs of the OTC Brasil Program Committee. OTC Brasil is a new conference that will bring upstream profession-als from around the globe to Rio de Janeiro October 4–6, 2011.

Hurst AppointmentMTS life member Pam Hurst, Bat-telle’s senior market manager for Navy undersea systems in the National Security Global Business, has been appointed to a three-year term on the advisory board for the Department of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Hurst is a graduate of the engineering school at URI.

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Evalyn Shea

Liquid Robotics’ Wave Glider™ won the Wall Street Journal’s 2010 Technology Innovation Award for Robotics.

Geir Håøy

Pam Hurst


Section News

continued on page 7

Stay in the Loop—Sign Up for an MTS Section!MTS no longer automatically assigns you to a Section.

Here’s how to assign yourself:

(1) Log on to www.mtsociety.org and (2) enter your last name and MTS member ID. A gray box will pop up. (3) Click “Update Section Information.” You will go into your profile. (4) Select the gray “Membership Info” tab. (5) Select one of the three options, one of which is a dropdown box with a list of MTS sections. (6) Click “Save Record” button at the bottom of the page.

Questions? Call (�10) 88�-�330.

Planning Team members for OCEANS’12 met at the Hilton Virginia Beach hotel in June. From left: MTS Executive Director Rich Lawson, Tom Myers, Ray Toll, Neil Rondorf, Keisha Carr, Mark Bushnell, Alicia Zupeck, Bob Kugler, James Barbera, Chris Barrett, Sue Kingston and Wendy Evalle.

Section Leaders Discuss Goals, Priorities at OCEANS’10Kevin Hardy, Vice President-Section Affairs

and other new ideas. That may be done as an unmoderated listserv where the only subscribers are the four prime elected section leaders (chair, vice chair, treasurer and secretary). Section leaders would like a means to develop natural connections with those pro-fessional committee leaders that reside within their areas. While sections are geography-centric and professional committees are topic-centric, they share many common challenges, and interac-tions would strengthen both.

These goals are just the beginning. Every task accomplished brings new confidence for the next. I appreciate the strong voices of support from the Houston; San Diego; Gulf Coast; Newfoundland and Labrador; Washington, D.C.; Hawaii; and Monterey sections at OCEANS, as well as the other section leaders I have spoken with. This is a terrific time to be involved. I encourage every member to actively participate and support their local section. Together we’ll create an increasingly vibrant Marine Technology Society, and each will benefit from the resources we discover. n

A t OCEANS’10, we convened a meeting of section chairs to discuss challenges, opportunities, goals and priorities. While not every section was able to send a representative, those that did demonstrated their understanding of the larger Society and the issues that affect us all. In a very upbeat and energetic meeting, we discussed topics ranging from uniform section election dates, honoring corporate sponsors, concentration banking, listservs, new-officer training, support of student sections, membership, moving the home office back to D.C., contributions to Currents, and many other topics. We agreed on a sequence of tasks, and made a commitment to common goals that will increase the effectiveness of interacting with each other, professional com-mittees, conference and workshop organizers, and the home office.

We’ll begin by updating our Section Operations Manual, and bringing new clarity and continuity to section governance. Beth Berkley, treasurer of the San Diego Section, has offered to assist me in creating the first draft that all section leaders, the Board of Directors and the home office will review and revise. (Thanks, Beth!) The section leaders indicated their preference to dis-tribute Society plaques for sponsors and honorees at local events, making the occasions much more personal. That is being done now, beginning this month in Houston, and rapidly for all. We’ll implement listservs for sections through the home office, but still managed by the local section, which can add names to encourage new membership and promote events on their own schedules.

Section leaders asked for a means to better connect them to each other to share best practices in event planning, fund raising

Hampton Roads Section Starts Planning for OCEANS’12Tom Bosse, SecretaryMark Bushnell, TreasurerHampton Roads Section

W ith OCEANS‘12 “just around the corner,” the section is beginning to discover all of the joy that goes into hosting a major conference. Although preliminary planning and coordination for OCEANS’12 has been underway for more than a year, detailed organi-zation work began in earnest this summer. Activity kicked off with a successful MTS TechSurge Workshop (Ocean Observing – Thinking Outside the Basin) held at the Norfolk Sheraton in June that was intended to serve locally as a lead-in for the OCEAN’12 program. This workshop was co-chaired by Hampton Roads Section Chair Ray Toll and

was well attended by section members.

Following directly on the heels of the workshop, the OCEANS’12 MTS/IEEE planning team met on June 29 in Vir-

ginia Beach to review contracts, timelines, budgets, committee leadership responsibilities and a host of other topics in prep-aration for the conference. Par-ticipants included leaders and

members from IEEE and MTS headquarters and the local sec-tions, contracted conference planners, local facility repre-


Section News

FloridaDavid Means, one of the world’s foremost shipwreck discoverers, was the guest speaker at the section’s October meeting. Means and his U.K. company, Blue Water Recoveries, have located 22 major shipwrecks and have been awarded three Guinness World Records, including one for locating the deepest shipwreck ever found at 5,762 meters—the German WWII blockade runner Rio Grande. Means’ talk was titled “Discovering Famous Deepwater Shipwrecks - HMS Hood, Bismarck, and HMAS Sydney.” Chair: Mark Luther, [email protected]

Gulf CoastSpeakers for the general luncheon meetings of the Gulf Coast Section have come from the ranks of Stennis Space Center, as local scien-tists describe the support their agencies provided following the recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill. At September’s meeting, Richard Myrick, director of the Ocean Measurements Department, detailed the use of gliders by the Naval Oceano-graphic Office immediately fol-lowing the incident. In addition to using the equipment to identify areas affected by oil, they were used to locate the Loop Current. Measurements of the current were used in circu-

lation models to determine if there were a possibility of the oil being drawn into the Gulf Stream. In October, Dr. Richard (Dick)

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sentatives, and most impor-tantly, volunteers! After the working session in the morning, the group enjoyed lunch at the famous Catch 31 oceanfront restaurant (award winning she-crab soup) and then traveled to the Virginia Beach Conference Center for a tour of the OCEANS‘12 venue. Work continued after this meeting to fill key planning team and committee positions, to participate in OCEANS’10 and coordinate with the Seattle planning team, and to receive required conference-planning training. All of this effort was tied together at our late October section meeting, where we reviewed the OCEANS’12

budget and website, and our plan of action and milestones for the conference.

The Oceans ’12 MTS/IEEE splash page is at www.oceans 12mtsieeehamptonroads.org. Our relatively small section was not quite sure if we were getting in over our collective heads when it was decided to push Hampton Roads for OCEANS’12, but we are now greatly encouraged by the professional support offered from the various entities associated with the OCEANS conferences. Our enthusiasm remains and our confidence is building quickly as we prepare for this tremendous opportunity to promote MTS and Hampton Roads. Chair: Ray Toll, raymond [email protected]. n

MTS Gulf Coast Section Chair Laurie Jugan and recent speaker from the Naval Oceanographic Office Richard Myrick stand by one of the gliders used for NAVOCEANO ocean surveys.

Crout detailed NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) activ-ities following the oil spill in a presentation entitled “Data Col-lected in Support of the Deepwater Horizon (MC-252) Incident.” The data presented were collected from every platform and sensor combination imaginable: CTD, Winkler Titration, echo sounder, gliders, ADCPs, fluorometers, satellites, etc. The data were used to determine surface slick coverage and potential movement, deep water oil displacement, and the presence or absence of surface oil.

Future topics planned include an update on local homeland/port security, information on a new program to bring mentors into K-12 classrooms spearheaded by the Naval Research Laboratory and an update on the Infinity Science Center. Section meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at Stennis Space Center. Chair: Laurie Jugan, [email protected]

Vincent Howard (left) and Brian Bingham discuss a research cruise during the Hawaii Section’s August meeting.

HawaiiThe section met at the Koko Isle Clubhouse, Hawaii Kai, Oahu, in August for a tropical sunset meeting. Nineteen members and student members enjoyed a presentation by Dr. Rob Yonover on the new Pacific Rim chapter of the SAFE Association (an inter-national organization dedicated to ensuring personal safety and protection in land, sea, air and space environments with an emphasis on survival and aviation). He has found participation very useful to his business as the group includes representatives from scuba gear to ejection seats. Also, this interesting meeting ended with a presentation by Dr. Brian Bingham, assisted by Vincent Howard and Jon Mefford (University of Hawaii-Monoa) on their participation in the Western Pacific cruise, “INDEX 2010: Indonesia – USA Deep-Sea Exploration of the Sangihe Talaud Region.” Riding onboard the NOAA vessel Okeanos Explorer, they participated in the deployment of a deepwater ROV down to depths of almost 3,700 meters. Of the many mission successes, particularly noteworthy was the discovery of between 40 and 100 new species, total number depending on verification completion. This cruise was especially unique because of the implementation of satellite voice, data and video exchange per-mitting real-time participation by a globally distributed group of experts while the ROV was down and actively imaging the bottom. Chair: Stu Burley, [email protected]

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Section News

HoustonIn September, the section heard Michael Kologinczak, P.E., senior engineer with Williams, discuss the Gulfstream Natural Gas System and the challenges with construction of a large off-shore transmission pipeline. The section held its Annual Bar-becue at the end of October. Look for more on that in the next issue of Currents. Registration and sponsorship opportunities for the ever-popular Sporting Clay Tournament should have opened in November. Scheduled for March 5, 2011, this event has grown dramatically in the past five years and boasts outstanding spon-sorship and networking opportunities, as well as great prizes. Experienced shooters and novices are encouraged to attend. Chair: Robert Keith, [email protected]

Dr. Cesar Palagi spoke to the Houston Young Professionals at their September Lunch and Learn hosted by UniversalPegasus International.

Houston Young ProfessionalsThe YP monthly Lunch and Learn for the month of September was presented by Dr. Cesar Palagi from Petrobras America. The topic was “Development of Cascade and Chinook Fields in the Gulf of Mexico – From Conception to Implementation.” The presen-tation marked many firsts for the YP group. For the young profes-sionals it was one of the first presentations on a major ongoing deepwater project in the Gulf of Mexico, the first on floating production storage and offloading technology and one of the first on project execution and implementation. The interest in the presentation was evident from the tremendous attendance and several questions put forth by the attendees. Post pres-entation interaction provided the young professionals with an opportunity to network with peers from various sectors of the industry. In all, the erudite presentation by Dr. Palagi was one of the most memorable lunch and learns organized by YPs. Looking to the future, the YPs have exciting plans for the 2011 Lunch and Learn season by organizing presentations on wide-ranging topics in the offshore oil and gas sector, such as drilling, production and flow assurance, to shipping and maintenance. The YPs wish to thank MTS member UniversalPegasus Interna-tional for hosting the September event.

JapanThe section was busy with its Techno-Oceans Conference in October (see story on page 9), but had time to organize a small seminar in September to which 20 people came. Attendees heard Dr. Pat Takahashi, professor emeritus of University of Hawaii, discuss “Blue Revolution for Japan?” Chair: Toshitugu Sakou, [email protected]

Newfoundland and LabradorThe section hosted a monthly event around the theme of deep water drilling. Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the few locations in the world where deepwater drilling is underway. The event was designed around lessons learned from the Deep-water Horizon incident, con-trasting the American and Canadian regulatory envi-ronments and reviewing how lessons learned during the response operation could be applied in the context of the east coast of Canada. It was moderated by Frank Smyth, chief conservation officer of Canada Newfoundland Labrador Off-shore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB). Memorial University engi-neering student Clare O’Keefe, who recently worked with C-NLOPB, gave a presentation contrasting the current regulatory envi-ronment established by C-NLOPB to the U.S. BOEMRE regulatory regime. She also summarized the process and resources that C-NLOPB had invested since the incident to review the integrity of its regulatory processes. Although the presentation did not include actual recommendations, she did present the categories of recommendations, which include areas where existing expec-tations are not publicly conveyed through guidance, but, rather, covered through internal processes; areas where expectations need to be revisited and reviewed for scope and applicability, and some enhancements to guidance; internal checklists and proc-esses; and further investigations of some operators’ practices and policies. Bruce English, senior response officer with the Canadian Coast Guard Environmental Response, gave a presentation on the response effort, centering on his weeklong visit to several cities in the Gulf of Mexico to watch response efforts in the field, and surveillance efforts and coordination on command centers and posts. His lessons learned can be categorized into training, equipment inventory, establishing communications channels and better science. Frank Smyth moderated the lively discussion that followed each presentation and provided commentary on the role of the C-NLOPB and the current situation on the Grand Banks, where Chevron has recently capped an exploratory deepwater well. The event was well attended by students and industry, with over 50 participants. The most interesting part of the event was the question period, where several different perspectives arose from the audience. Chair: Bill O’Keefe, [email protected]


continued on page 9

Engineering student Claire O’Keefe took time out from studies at Memorial University to contrast the regulatory environment of the U.S. and Canada during a presentation to the Newfoundland and Labrador Section.


A

Washington, D.C.The section elected new leadership in the fall, with Brent Evers assuming the position of chair from Rusty Mirick. The new vice chair is Dennis Egan, P.E., and the new secretary is Daniel Neumann, who took over from Montserrat Gorina-Ysern. John Fornshell continues to take on the role of treasurer.

Webb InstituteSixty percent of Webb Institute students hold membership in MTS, and thanks to the secretary/treasurer of the Webb Insti-tute’s MTS Student Section, their membership is up to date.

Section News


bout 150 papers from 13 nations were presented at Techno-Ocean 2010 on October 14–16 in Kobe, Japan, with about 380 people for the symposium. The MTS Japan Section is one of the confer-ence’s sponsors.

Keynote speakers were MTS member Capt. Craig McLean, deputy assistant adminis-trator at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Yves Hen-ocque, team-leader of pro-spective and scientific strategy, French Research Institute for Exploration of the Sea; Jung-Keuk Kang, president of the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute; and Yoshiyuki Kaneda, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

On the second day, a special session was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Japone-Franco Oceanographique Society, and dozens of French delegates joined this unique session. The Student Poster Session had 40 posters. The exhibition included 91 organi-zations with about 170 booths, attracting more than 12,000 visitors over the three days. On the last day, 3,400 vis-itors attended an open house in the port area, touring the deep sea drilling vessel Chikyu, manned deep sea submersible

Techno-Ocean 2010 Features Celebration, Tours

From left, Prof. H. Ishida, Organizing Committee chair; Dr. T Sakou, MTS Japan Section chair; J.K. Kang, president of KORDI; Jerry Carroll, representative of IEEE/OES; Dr. S. Imawaki, president of the Japone-Franco Oceanographique Society; T. Yada, mayor of Kobe City; T. Motoyama, chair of the Ocean Resources Committee of Keidanren; Y. Kato, president of JAMSTEC; Craig McLean, NOAA; Yves Henocque, IFREMER; I. Uzaki, president of Kobe Convention and Visitors Association, secretariat of the event.

Shinkai6500 with mother ship Yokosuka, and garbage sweep boat Dr. Kaiyo. The Aqua Robot Competition was also held Sat-urday, at the pool of the Port Island Sport Center located next door to the convention. Eight robots in the free-style division, five teams in the Aqua-bio division and five autonomous underwater vehicles joined this vigorous event with more than 200 visitors, including about 20 from foreign nations.

Before the traditional opening Kanpai ceremony at the banquet, there was a cer-emony for the presentation of this year’s Techno-Ocean Award, which was given to Dr. Shigeo Takahashi of the Port and Airport Research Institute,

Nick Walker sent the MTS home office a list of 34 students who needed to renew, along with a check, and then billed everyone individually through the Webb Student Organization. He then took advantage of the Teledyne RD Instruments free student membership program to enroll 14 students as new members. Walker noted that Webb’s students are particularly interested in alternative energy: “Two of the theses from last year’s gradu-ating class were on alternative energy: one on marine fuel cells and one on offshore wind turbine fields. Right now, we are trying to find a lecturer, or perhaps a field trip opportunity, for the section.” Professional members interested in lending a hand can contact its counselor, Matthew Werner, at [email protected]. n

for his long-time, outstanding dedication to coastal hazard prevention and research on tsu-namis. Past recipients were MTS member Joseph Vadus in 2004; Prof. Masaaki Wakatsuchi, Hokkaido University, in 2006;

Prof. Toshio Yamagata, Uni-versity of Tokyo, in 2008.

Techno-Ocean is an inter-national conference held every other year since 1986, and jointly held with OCEANS in 2004 and 2008. n


Professional Committees

Second Education Workshop a Success at OCEANS’10Sue Cook, Chair, Marine Education Committee

T

Educators in Seattle get into the fine art of ROV building. (Photo courtesy of Erica Moulton)

his spring and summer the Marine Education professional committee has been working hard to design and implement the second workshop in the annual MTS-IEEE/OES Educator Profes-sional Development Program series. The goals for this multi-year initiative are (1) to strengthen the content knowledge of public and private school teachers and informal educators in the areas of ocean technology and oceanography, (2) to provide educators with ideas and resources that will help them highlight the rel-evance of the ocean to the everyday lives of their students and (3) to engage ocean science and technology professionals in contributing both to the workshop and to K-12 and public science education overall.

As vice-chair and chair of the committee, Erica Moulton and I are pleased to report that this year’s event held on September 18 on the University of Washington campus was a resounding success! With generous financial support from MTS and IEEE-OES, 29 edu-cators from 23 schools, informal educational organizations and gov-ernment entities participated in the workshop.

To meet the needs of today’s science educators, our workshop format emphasized inquiry-based, hands-on activities that edu-cational research has shown to be essential for student under-standing of science and technology. After a welcome by myself and Dr. Fritz Stahr from MTS and Jerry Carroll and Pamela Hurst from IEEE-OES, educators split into smaller groups to participate in two high-quality activities. In “ROV in a Bag: An introduction to the Remotely Operated Vehicle,” Moulton (Marine Advanced Technology Education [MATE] Center, Monterey Peninsula College) worked with educators as they designed, built and tested their own ROVs in the university’s saltwater test tank. In the SENSE IT (Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology) activity, Liesl Hotaling (senior engineer at the University of South Florida) led educators through a three-part curriculum sequence to construct simple sensors for temper-ature and salinity.

Additional workshop activities included tours of the U. W. Seaglider Fabrication Center laboratory conducted by Stahr and Rick Rupan, while Wes Thompson talked with educators about the ARGO drifting floats that profile the temperature and salinity of the global ocean down to 2,000 meters. Luncheon keynote

speaker Robert Wernli (MTS member and IEEE-OES’s vice president for conference development) talked about “Underwater Robots: Today’s Indispensable Workhorses” and gave educators an in-depth look at how ROV and AUV technology developed and how these important tools are being used today.

A second workshop goal was to connect educators with Puget Sound organizations and people who could provide additional resources and help attendees use what they had learned from the workshop in their future classroom work and community outreach. To give educators information on what is involved in taking the day’s activities into the classroom, a three-member panel of savvy educators discussed their experiences (both positive and negative) using ROVs and other resources in their teaching. Educators were also introduced to the Ocean Careers website managed by MATE and were given information on regional resources and programs available through COSEE Ocean Learning Communities, the Ocean Inquiry Project and Washington Sea Grant. At the lively raffle that ended the day, 10 lucky participants won ROV in a Bag kits to take home and use in their classrooms and outreach programs.

Many thanks to MTS and OES-IEEE for financial support without which the workshop (and the 2010 ROV kit raffle!) would not have been possible. Thanks are also due to office staff at the MATE Center at Monterey Peninsula College and Julie Hahn from Wash-ington Sea Grant for providing essential pre-workshop office and planning support. n

Moorings Chair Plans to Restart Committee at UIJack Rowley, Chair, Moorings Committee

missions of abstracts, PowerPoint presentations, and multimedia submissions. (The Call for Abstracts is at www.mtsociety.org/conferences/Undewater.aspx.)

As part of this conference, I also intend to hold a Moorings Committee meeting solely for the purpose of discussing how we can make the future of this committee exciting to the entire mooring-related ship, buoy, offshore rigs and bottom-mounting industries. Please contact me with questions or comments at [email protected]. Visit the MTS booth during UI for the time and location of the meeting. n

A s the new chair of the MTS Moorings Committee, I would like to extend an invitation to all members to attend and participate in a restart of the MTS Moorings Committee program, which I hope to transition into future annual meetings to be held with Underwater Intervention conferences and/or other MTS confer-ences. This restart will begin at UI 2011 in New Orleans in Feb-ruary. Mooring users, owners, manufacturers and regulators will have a chance to catch up and discuss an incredibly wide range of new mooring-related developments, new/updated materials, tools and techniques. The Moorings Committee welcomes sub-


Cables and ConnectorsCommittee members held a conference call in August to discuss ideas to reinvigorate the committee. Attendees Walter Paul, Brock Rosenthal, Cal Peters, Jerry Boatman, Helmut Portmann, Chung-Chu Teng and Landry Bernard discussed the format of previous conferences and the idea of having workshops with other conferences as opposed to a separate workshop. Eve-ryone stressed the need to include in workshops not only suc-cesses and experiences but also failures and to focus formats on abstracts and PowerPoint briefs instead of papers.

In conjunction with OCEANS’10, MTS organized a Cables and Connectors Committee meeting. Thanks to MTS Board officers Jerry Boatman and Justin Manley for attending and helping to establish some grounds rules. A special thanks to Kevin Hardy and John Flory for making this meeting a success! Everyone agreed they should have a session or more at Underwater Inter-vention 2011 in February in New Orleans and have another com-mittee meeting after or during one of the sessions. UI requires an abstract and presentations, which can be on items of imme-diate concern or findings. Several of the members agreed to work on getting abstracts. As a result of our meeting in Seattle, MTS has issued a Call for Abstracts (available at www.mtsociety.org/conferences/Undewater.aspx). Chair: Helmut Portmann, [email protected]

Deepwater Field DevelopmentMacArtney Offshore hosted a Subsea Field Development Lunch andLearn at its new facility in September. Along with lunch, attendees got a tour of the facility and an introduction to some new products and services, many of which will help to ensure success in “post-spill” deepwater operations. Chair: Benton Baugh, [email protected]

Ocean PollutionThe first event for the Ocean Pollution Committee—of an antici-pated very busy year—was a big success. Chair Jake Sobin and Vice Chair Ryan Morton organized a session on pollution mon-itors at OCEANS’10. Speakers from around the globe (including a professor from Osaka University, Japan) helped deliver a stimu-lating session with topics on (1) Spilled Oil Tracking Autonomous Buoys, (2) Air-Deployed Drogued Drifting Buoys, (3) Automatic Interface for AUV Mission Planning and Supervision, and (4) Drift Characteristics of Heavy Oil and Drift Objects in Laboratory Tanks and Coastal Areas. These topics are among a few that will be highlighted in the special issue of the MTS Journal on ocean pollution next spring. Sobin and Morton also attended the MTS Council meeting the day before OCEANS. In addition, Sobin gave a talk at the MTS Student Leadership Meeting on his transition from an MTS student president to a committee chair. Chair: Jake Sobin, [email protected]

Professional Committees

Welcome New Members arizonaMichael T. MacLean

CaliforniaGabriel AcunaCarlos E. AmielJoanne Keune BackenMike BlumenbergLloyd Lee Bradley IIIRoy ButlerChris G. FeesRyan M. HernandezErick LopezMichael MarinJose MartinezTyler MorganHisu ParkHarold ParkerJill Breymann-RabeJose ReyesAdrian RoblesEric StoutenburgTedde TitusLeo TorresPaul WanisRobert WylandPhillip Yee

ColoradoEric Nelson

FloridaVittorio BichucherKaitlyn V. BellBrittany BurkChristopher J. ComptonJennifer DraherMark A. Edmonson, Jr.Christopher M. Ellert

Steven A. HelkinRenee LippertAaron Paul MacyMichael V. MelitaRavaal RamsaroopMichael G. SeibertBina WagshallNicole WatersWhitney WestmanR. Ryan WoodLichao XiaEric Ziegler

LouisianaDarrell DuncanBenjamin H. HuggsAndreas Moshogianis

MassachusettsGregory E. FennellDaniel Gomez-Ibanez

MarylandJeffrey CullinaEd NowickiLinda Peco-DeHoffGiancarlo TroniRobby Wilson

MaineBarbara Fortier

MississippiAbel DeanMarty DoodyAmy GloverValerie HartmannNorman C. Schoenhardt

north CarolinaJessica HarrisWilliam Bruce HarrisAustin Osborne-NewmanElisha ParamoreSteve PocherOnkar RautLesley Thorne

new JerseyCarl W. EithAnthony TedeschiRobert B. ThomasGavin TullyHans Christian Woithe

new YorkBryce BartlingLee BoltzEsteban CastroKiersten DelValleJenna FerrieriMatthew GrahamJoshua LambertsenRandall NeureuterConor O’SullivanRoxanne SchachtAlex SimkusDavid SmithMarc SmithCollin SpillaneJonathan SojaTyler TottenDaniel TuroffRachel WalkerKirsten WunderAmy Zahray

OhioMark Davis

PennsylvaniaHolly Ibanez

Rhode IslandKimberly CipollaWilliam L. KeithDino Marcolongo

texasMichael D. AbbasMargaret BarkerAlexander BonelliDuncan C. BrotzmanMichael P. BrzezniakFelix CantuJeremy CarretteAndy CatesBryan CrawfordBenjamin CollinsRichard DavidsonJonathan D. DavisCalvin DeelahIan R. DootsonKevin ErskineButch ExleyBryce A. FordChase W. W. FrakesCollin G. GaskillDennis Reed GibsonStephanie GonzalesLance Ray Gordon IIIScott Edward GreeneAudun HaugeChuck HornBryan HuttonCarla Ibanez

Opeyemi IjagbemiLandon JakseGary D. LilesRod LongXiaoyan LongMieko MahiMarcus MarinosDavid MasseyHarvey McBee IIIDeirdre OHearnRaquel PayanBernadine T. PoduskaCarlos Rincon QuinteroDavid RussellKnut SchroderMark SoloninkaSteven C. SpencerKaty A. StevensonDag TollefsrudLee WaldenDavid E. WendtGinny WhisenhuntMark VelaTaylor Yetts

VirginiaSteven ShakerJohn StuckeyRobert Varley

WashingtonRoger BentleyTony EscarcegaAmanda GrayMartha HerzogJames HustedTrina LitchendorfNicole Nichols

Rick RupanDanny SaleTracey W. SteigMark StockhamKatherine Sultani-WrightSamuel S. Urmy

Washington, D.C.Melissa A. BrodeurMaureen MosesLi Ping Sung

australiaNasir Ahsan Asher Bender

CanadaCatherine R. HoganReyna JenkynsSteve Pearce

Cayman IslandsGary M. Montemayor

People’s Republic of China Bian Xinqian

hong KongTjasa Boh Whiteman

IndiaPrajas John

IrelandBrendan Cahill

saudi arabiaDaniel W. Beard

united KingdomMax BlancoRichard Turner



W ith a large and lively exhibition, cutting-edge technical sessions and outstanding plenary speakers, this year’s event was stronger than ever,” said Ted Brockett, co-chair of the successful OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle Conference, summing up the feelings of the Local Organizing Committee and MTS Board of Directors at the end of the September 20-23 event. Over 1,800 people from 35 countries attended, with 159 exhibitors from around the world, including vibrant regional pavilions from Washington state, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia.

In keeping with the conference theme, “Innerspace: A Global Responsibility,” plenary speakers brought an international per-spective to the conference. Nii Allotey Odunton of Ghana is the secretary-general of the International Seabed Authority. Odunton, who has over 20 years of experience in international marine resource policy formulation, discussed the role of the International Seabed Authority. Liu Feng, deputy director-general of the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA) has been closely involved with international seabed issues. His presentation focused on the activities of COMRA and the Jiaolong submersible. The final plenary was by Yoshio Isozaki, director-general of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Tech-nology (JAMSTEC). A leader in marine engineering, he focused on JAMSTEC initiatives. The presentations can be viewed at www.oceanicengineering.org/page.cfm/cat/233.

During the four-day meeting, over 300 technical papers were presented and six tutorials and training sessions were offered. The annual student poster session, supported by the Office of Naval Research, featured 20 presentations by students from seven countries. Rounding out the Technical Program, Town Hall Ses-sions were held on three separate topics: obtaining access to foreign waters for marine scientific research; IOOS® certification standards for non-federal assets; and ocean observation and environmental management in the Gulf of Mexico.

New to the exhibition area was the Exhibitors Lounge, ini-tiated and run by MTS. Two panel discussions were held to provide insight on exploring international business opportunities. See the article on page 4 to learn more about this and two other highly

successful initiatives from MTS designed to drive traffic to the exhibit area.

MTS President Liz Corbin presided over a fast-paced Awards Luncheon. She announced the winners of the Board of Directors election

OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE SeattleConference Co-chair Bob Spindel greets plenary session speaker Liu Feng, deputy director-general of the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association. (Photo courtesy of Stan Chamberlain)

Bill O’Keefe (left), chair of the Newfoundland

and Labrador Section, chats with Teledyne

RDI’s Darryl Symonds (center) and Marcel Montrose, outgoing

student representative to the MTS Council, at

the MTS student mixer.

Time to clinch that sale! (Photo courtesy

of Jesse Bikman)

The exhibit floor gets crowded—but in a good way! (Photo courtesy of Stan Chamberlain)

MTS President Liz Corbin presents Ryan Vandermeulen with the MTS Outstanding Student Section Award. Vandermeulen was representing the University of Southern Mississippi and was attending the conference as a participant in the MTS Student Leadership Meeting.


Bob Wernli (left) greets a contingent of MTS members from St. John’s, Newfoundland, (from left) Vicki Button, Darrell O’Neill and Catherine Hogan. (Photo courtesy of Stan Chamberlain)

OCEANS’10 MTS/IEEE Seattle(see the article on page 1) and presented the MTS awards. Amos Bussmann of Compass Publications was on hand to present the three Compass awards, and Dan White, publisher and managing editor of Ocean News and Technology had the honor of presenting the first two Ocean News and Technology Young Professional Awards, which he initiated this year. Presenting the Lockheed Martin Award for Ocean Science and Engineering was Robert Varley, program manager for OTEC programs at Lockheed Martin. (The September/October issue of Currents featured the winners of MTS awards. Visit the Publications section of the MTS website [www.mtsociety.org] to see the archived issues of Currents.)

At its Awards Luncheon, conference co-sponsor IEEE’s Oceanic Engineering Society presented the Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Thomas Freud Wiener of the Forté Consultancy for his lead-ership and strategic vision. Dr. Weiner served in the U.S. Navy as the skipper of the USS Jack and has been a leader in OES for many years. The Distinguished Technical Achievement Award was presented to Prof. Tamaki Ura of the University of Tokyo who has been a leader in the development of autonomous underwater vehicles and related sensor technologies. Dr. Ura has organized numerous symposia on underwater technology in Asia.

Two new IEEE Fellows were honored: Dr. Ross Chapman of the University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C., Canada, for contributions to geoacoustic characterization of ocean bottom features; and Dr. John Fenwick Vesecky of the University of California-Santa Cruz for contributions to remote sensing and technology. The President’s Service Awards were bestowed on Dr. Rene Garello of Télécom Bretagne who served as vice president of conference operations for five years; Dr. Christian de Moustier of HLS Research, Inc., editor in chief of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering for six years; Stephen M. Holt of Noblis, secretary for 10 years; and Dr. Christoph Waldmann of the University of Bremen who serves on the administrative committee.

OES also announced the results of recent elections for leader-ship positions. Jerry C. Carroll of Picayune, Miss., was elected president for 2011 and 2012, along with Dr. Albert (Sandy) J. Williams III of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as vice president for technical activities, Dr. Archie (Todd) Morrison III of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as vice president for conference operations, and Dr. Christian de Moustier of San Diego as secretary.

To support the development of the next generation of industry leaders, MTS, for the second year, held a day-long workshop for student section leaders to share their best practices and learn from presentations on a variety of topics. An evening mixer brought together these students and those from the poster session, along with professional members of both societies. Two students who attended the Student Leadership Meeting give their perspectives in the Education News section.

The OCEANS‘11 MTS/IEEE Kona Conference will be held September 19–22, 2011, at the Hilton Waikoloa Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.

[Editor’s Note: The names of MTS members are in bold.]

Student Poster Competition Chair and MTS member Norm Miller (center) is surrounded by contest winners: (from left) Ruth Mullins (Texas & M University - 3rd Place), Nicole Nichols (University of Washington - 2nd Place), Sarah Howse (Memorial University of Newfoundland - 3rd Place), Michael Shives (University of Victoria, Canada - 1st Place), Nasir Ahsan (Australian Center for Field Robotics, Sydney, Australia - 3rd Place), Mathew Harrison - University of Southampton, U.K. - 2nd Place). Mullins, Nichols, Howse and Ahsan are all student members of MTS. (Photo courtesy of Stan Chamberlain)

Newly minted MTS Fellow and winner of the Compass Distinguished

Achievement Award, Dr. Julius Rockwell, Jr.,

(second from left) is flanked by his supporters

and admirers, from left, Ron Raymond,

Ted Brockett and Craig McLean. (Photo courtesy

of Stan Chamberlain)

During a technical session on moorings, John Flory explains “Effects of Fiber Rope Complex Stiffness Behavior On Mooring Line Loads With Large Vessels Moored In Waves.” (Photo courtesy of Stan Chamberlain)

Currents N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 01�


Business News

New MemberWelcome to new business member Team Trident. The company is a private recruiting firm based in Houston, Texas, with a niche focus on per-manent and contract staff for the energy industry, as well as military technicians. Team Tri-dent’s website includes a job search engine. Web link: www.teamtrident.com

Ashtead TechnologyMTS member Ashtead Tech-nology has appointed Emphor FZCO, a Dubai-based tech-nology solutions provider, to represent the Offshore Division in the Middle East region and Scope Engineering (WA) Pty. Ltd., of Perth, Australia, to represent the company in Australia; New Zealand; and Papua, New Guinea. The com-panies will provide Ashtead Technology’s full equipment rental fleet, as well as provide other services, including 24-hour technical support, at their facilities. Web link: www.ashtead-technology.com

Aker ContractAker Solutions has won a con-tract to provide a drilling riser system to Sevan Marine’s deep-water drilling rig Sevan Brasil. The $40-million contract is for a complete 8,000-foot drilling riser system, which includes over 100 rise joints. Web link: www.akersolutions.com

C & C VesselAll American Marine and MTS member C & C Tech-nologies (USA) are to start construction of a new 134-foot-by-37-foot aluminum catamaran survey vessel for survey operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The two com-panies have been developing the design concept for the advanced vessel for nearly two years. Teknicraft Design of Auckland, New Zealand, will

provide the engineering and naval architecture services for the design. The vessel is expected to be launched and delivered during the second half of 2011. Web link: www.cctechnol.com

DOF and SchillingMTS member DOF Subsea ordered two new 200-horse-power UHD™ ROV systems from Schilling Robotics, also an MTS member. In addition, two original UHDs delivered to DOF Subsea in 2006 will be upgraded to the advanced UHD Gen II design. Deliveries of the 4,000-meter-rated UHDs are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2010. Web link: www.dofsubsea.com

IXSEA SalesMTS member IXSEA’s navi-gation equipment has been chosen by Abu Dhabi Systems Integration (ADSI) for 12 Ghannatha-class missile boats and 12 Ghannatha-class transportation boats of the United Arab Emirates’ navy. The missile boats will use IXSEA’s MARINS inertial navi-gation systems (INS), and the transport boats will use the PHINS systems. The IXSEA systems will be used for navi-gation and positioning and, in the case of the missile boats, to provide attitude measurement for weaponry alignment and stabilization. Fugro GeoSurveysFugro has purchased full own-ership of MTS member Fugro Jacques GeoSurveys, based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, from Stantec Con-sulting. The company will in future operate under the name of Fugro GeoSurveys. It offers the complete range of Fugro’s marine survey and marine geotechnical services to its Canadian-based and interna-tional clients. In other news,

Fugro has acquired ERT, an Edinburgh-based marine envi-ronmental consultancy to help with the studies required for new offshore windfarms and wave or tidal device instal-lations, which are subject to stringent marine environ-mental impact studies prior to approval. Web link: www.fugro.com

Hydrovolts NewsHydrovolts received a $250,000 investment to develop a 25-kilowatt hydrokinetic canal turbine for DLZ Corp., which is developing several hydro-power projects in India. The company also received the Sustainability Award from the Pacific Northwest Cleantech Open in October and went on to compete against the sus-tainability winners in three other regional Cleantech Open contests. (Hydrovolts won the same award, and the national Sustainability Award, last year.) The final winner was announced in San Fran-cisco November 17, after Cur-rents went to press. Hydrovolts is partnering with Harvard College, the alma mater of MTS member Burt Hamner, who is Hydrovolts’ CEO. Students from the college and Hydrovolt will collaborate to produce a variety of small floating tur-bines that make renewable energy from water currents in canals and the ocean. The turbines will be used by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the U.S. Navy. Web link: www.hydrovolts.com

Kongsberg SuiteMTS member Kongsberg Mar-itime will supply a suite of acoustic systems, including multibeam and scientific echosounders, for the Alaska region research vessel R/V Sikuliaq, which has been commissioned by its owner, the National Science Foun-

dation, and will be operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Kongsberg Mari-time’s specialist U.S. company, Kongsberg Underwater Tech-nology, has been chosen as the scientific sonar systems integrator for the ship. R/V Sikuliaq will have an array of sonar equipment, including several Kongsberg Maritime manufactured systems such as the EM 302 deep-water multibeam echo sounder, EM 710 shallow-water multibeam echo sounder, TOPAS PS 18 parametric sub-bottom profiler and the EK 60 scientific echo sounder. The Kongsberg Seatex Seapath 320+ will be supplied as a vessel attitude, heading and position reference for the scientific sonar suite. The R/V Sikuliaq is the first vessel in the University-National Oce-anographic Laboratory System fleet with significant research capability in seasonally ice-covered waters. Web link: www.km.kongsberg.com

DecommissioningThe cost of decommissioning offshore oil and gas platforms on the U.K. continental shelf could exceed $30 billion over the next 30 years, according to a report released by Deloitte and Douglas-Westwood. The report estimates that 260 off-shore oil and gas platforms will be decommissioned over the next 30 years.

Makai DOE AwardMTS member Makai Ocean Engineering in Kailua, Hawaii, was the winner of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funds designed to accelerate the technological and com-mercial readiness of emerging marine and hydrokinetic tech-nologies. With the help of its $240,000 award, the company will enhance a numerical model to quantify the rela-

Currents N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 1�

Business News

continued from page 14tionships among ocean thermal energy conversion discharge component design, device per-formance and environmental changes that may result from the discharge plume of ocean thermal energy conversion facilities in order to min-imize potential environmental impacts. Web link: www.makai.com

More DOE AwardsOcean Power Technologies (OPT)has won two new funding awards worth $2.4 million each from the U.S. DOE. OPT plans to use one award to construct and deploy in 2011 one of its PB150 PowerBuoys at Reeds-port, Ore., as part of the first proposed commercial wave power project in the U.S. The second award is intended to be used for the design and development of OPT’s next-generation 500-kilowatt Power-Buoy wave power system, the PB500. Resolute Marine Energy, Boston, Mass., will use $160,000 from DOE to develop a cost-effective, high-effi-ciency, power take-off system for a wave energy converter. This approach seeks to replace lower-efficiency, high-mainte-nance, long-stroke linear gen-erator systems. With funds of $239,900, Sound & Sea Tech-nology of Lynnwood, Wash., will develop engineering methods and best practices for creating more cost-effective and flexible anchoring tech-nology. The expectation is that a remotely controlled grouting procedure suitable for deepwater anchor install-ations can help securely and cost-effectively anchor ocean energy devices to seabeds, while reducing the capital and installation costs of MHK systems. Web links: www.oceanpowertechnologies.com, www.resolutemarine.com, www.soundandsea.com

MREC MoneyThe New England Marine Renewable Energy Center (MREC) has received $1.5 from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regu-lation and Enforcement for operations and marine energy research. The grants are $750,000 for annual operations and $750,000 for the study of advanced techniques for assessing the effectiveness of various technologies for sur-veying ocean energy resources such as waves, tides and offshore wind. The project involves five major academic institutions: Woods Hole Ocea-nographic Institution, Amherst and Dartmouth colleges and the universities of Hawaii and Washington. Web link: www.mrec.umassd.edu

Odyssey NewsThe Maryland Science Center in Baltimore is featuring MTS member Odyssey Marine Exploration’s exhibition SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure through January 31. In other news, Odyssey and its associated company, OVH, have executed agreements to provide supple-mentary project research and shipwreck search-and-survey services for a project code-named “Enigma II” to certain client companies of Robert Fraser & Partners LLP. As part of the agreements, Odyssey furnished research related to the anticipated location of the Enigma and is providing the research vessel, equipment and crew to search a specified area and inspect targets in that area. Upon location and confirmation of the shipwreck, Odyssey will have an oppor-tunity to enter into additional agreements for the archaeo-logical excavation of Enigma and for the conservation and documentation of any artifacts recovered. Web link: www.shipwreck.net

Oil Spill TechnologyEnviro Voraxial Technology has filed three patents related to oil spill recovery. The company believes that the design of its Submersible Voraxial® Sepa-rator is the only oil-water separator that can operate in the water to treat oil slicks. It can also operate hundreds of feet below the ocean surface to treat underwater oil spills and oil plumes. Unlike con-ventional oil spill recovery methods that require the skimmed oil/water mixture to be transferred from the ocean onto the vessel for oil-water separation, the Submersible Voraxial performs oil-water separation in the ocean. The company claims that by using this method, the skimming vessels will be 90 percent more efficient, capture 10 times more oil and clean the oil spill 10 times faster than conventional methods. Web link: www.evtn.com

Torpedo PilesThe ABS Brazil Offshore Tech-nology Center, in partnership with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, has begun work on its first research project on the application of torpedo piles as an alternative mooring anchor system. The study will examine state-of-the art tech-niques available to simulate soil conditions and determine a set of requirements and cri-teria that address the holding capacity and structural strength of torpedo piles in operation. The study, expected to be complete in February 2012, is expected to result in the development of a rational approach for the class review and approval of the proposed mooring system. Web link: www.eagle.org

Major ContractMTS member Subsea 7 has been awarded a major engineering,

procurement, installation and commissioning contract by Total E&P UK Ltd. for the Laggan Tormore deepwater gas field development, West of Shetland in the North Sea. The contract is valued in excess of $250 million. Subsea 7’s prin-cipal scope of work comprises engineering, fabrication and installation of 141-kilometers of 8-inch and 2-inch piggy-backed service pipelines and the engineering, supply and installation of 1-by-124-kil-ometer and 1-by-17-kilometer control umbilicals and asso-ciated subsea structures and tie-ins. The company has been awarded a 4-year single-con-tractor framework agreement with Shell Upstream Inter-national Europe for subsea pipeline installation services across its European offshore fields and facilities. The con-tract has three one-year extension options. The con-tract will cover the provision of subsea pipeline installation services on a call-off basis. This includes project man-agement, engineering and procurement services, right through to reeled pipeline installation offshore using Subsea 7’s pipelay vessel, the Seven Navica. Web link: www.subsea7.com

Technip ContractsMTS member Technip has won a contract from Total to deliver an engineering, procurement, construction and installation project for the Islay gas field in the U.K. North Sea. The $70 million contract includes installation of a 6-kilometer pipe-in-pipe (ETH-PIP) control umbilical, subsea struc-tures and seabed preparation, including detailed design, engineering and project man-agement. Offshore installation is scheduled for mid-2011. Shell Upstream Europe has



Business News


awarded Technip subsidiary Duco a contract to supply umbilicals for its North Sea assets. The seven-year con-tract covers engineering, pro-curement, project management and associated services for the fabrication and loadout of thermoplastic umbilicals up to 17 kilometers in length. The work will be carried out for gas prospects in the southern sector of the North Sea in the Dutch and U.K. sectors as well as in the Central North Sea. Technip was awarded a $400-million contract by Khafji Joint Operations for the Khafji crude-related offshore projects. The scope of work covers installation of two inte-grated wellhead jackets, two power distribution platforms, a main composite submarine cable, infield cables, a new living quarters platform and a control room. Technip will perform the overall project management, while fabri-cation, transportation and installation activities will be subcontracted to China Off-shore Oil Engineering Cor-poration. ExxonMobil has awarded a contract to Technip on behalf of Marine Well Con-tainment Company for the front-end engineering and design of underwater well-con-tainment equipment to provide emergency response services in the Gulf of Mexico. Web link: www.technip.com

Floating FarmNorwegian energy company Statoil is considering devel-oping the world’s first floating offshore wind farm in Scotland following early success with a full-scale prototype in Norway. The company has identified two potential sites, one off the coast of Lewis and one off Aberdeenshire, that could be suitable for a pilot park,

testing the concept of the Hywind floating turbines further. It is estimated that the turbines can be placed at depths between 120 meters and 700 meters. Statoil has already constructed a full-scale prototype Hywind unit, anchored 10 kilometers off the southwest coast of Norway. The floating structure weighs 5,300 tons and is 165 meters tall, with 65 meters above the sea surface. The 13 kilom-eters of power and communica-tions cabling attached to the structure adds to its weight. The full-scale prototype turbine was manufactured by Siemens and its floater was built by MTS member Technip. Nexans Norway laid the sub-marine power line. Trelleborg Offshore provided a “syn-tactic foam buoyancy” tech-nology for supporting the configuration of the wind turbine’s power cables. Web links: www.statoil.com, www. siemens.com, www.trelleborg.com, www.technip.com

Generating WavesIn its new report, “Hydro, Wave, and Tidal Power - Market Penetration and Road-mapping,” Frost & Sullivan, the global market analyst, estimated that wave energy resources worldwide could generate as much as 6,000 ter-rawatt-hours of clean elec-tricity annually—twice as much as global nuclear pro-duction—while tidal resources could generate as much as 700 terrawatt-hours per year.

DART BuoysScience Applications Interna-tional Corporation has been awarded a contract for the production and delivery of two additional next generation Easy-to-Deploy Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (DART®) buoy systems by the Bureau of Meteorology,

Melbourne, Australia. Web link: www.saic.com

Largest Wind FarmThe world’s largest offshore wind farm opened off the Kent coast in September, with 100 turbines generating enough electricity to power 200,000 homes. Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, built by Swedish power company Vattenfall, can produce up to 300 mega-watts of electricity. The farm will boost the U.K.’s wind power capacity by 30 percent, pushing it over the 5 gigawatt mark—enough to power all the homes in Scotland. Web link: www.vattenfall.com/en

Iceland AcquisitionTeledyne Benthos has acquired Hafmynd ehf. Hafmynd, located near Reykjavik, Iceland, designs and manufactures the Gavia, an autonomous under-water vehicle capable of car-rying out survey missions for commercial, scientific and defense applications. Hafmynd will operate as Teledyne Gavia ehf. Web link: www.gavia.is

AXYS FinalistAXYS Technologies, Canada, has been selected as a finalist for a 2010 British Columbia Export award in the category of Advancing Technologies. The Advancing Technologies Award recognizes a company that has effectively harnessed the powers of intellectual property and value-added know-how. The B.C. Export Awards celebrates excel-lence in British Columbia’s export industry, the second

largest contributor to the B.C. economy. AXYS has experi-enced year-to-year percentage growth in value of export sales and increased sales volume over the past year.

Marketing HelpDSME Trenton, a start-up company, is getting $300,000 in federal support from the Canadian government to help it find customers for its wind turbine components. The company is a partnership between the Nova Scotia government and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engi-neering, Inc., the second largest shipbuilder in the world. The money for mar-keting is coming from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, which has already given Daewoo $10 million. Though Daewoo has sales worth $10 billion a year, DSME Trenton is its first venture into wind power. Initially, the company was supposed to con-centrate solely on markets in North America. But orders have been slow, so it’s now looking for buyers around the world for its blades and support towers.

Tidal TurbineA new company, Kepler Energy Ltd., has been formed to develop a tidal turbine which has the potential to harness tidal energy more efficiently and cheaply, using a device which is simpler, more robust and more scalable than current designs. The turbine is the result of research in Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science. n

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New Remote SensorsA new suite of advanced instruments to be carried on the Sentinel-3 satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA) will deliver data for Global Monitoring for Envi-ronment and Security (GMES) services related to the marine environment, such as ocean-current forecasting services that need surface-temper-ature information, sea-water quality and pollution-mon-itoring services requiring ocean-color products, and surface-wave information for maritime safety. The instru-ments will include a precision radar altimeter, an infrared radiometer and a wide-swath ocean-and-land color radi-ometer. The first satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2013, followed by the second to maximize coverage.

Corrosion SolutionA special kind of titanium and a manufacturing technique used to build the Ariane 5 rocket could become the next successful spin-offs from Europe’s space program bene-fiting the oil and gas industry. Together with space sensor technology that could be used in new offshore drilling tools, these developments are the result of several technology demonstrator projects just completed for ESA’s Tech-nology Transfer Program. The wider use in the coming years of unmanned auton-omous underwater vehicles in the offshore oil and gas industry calls for new tech-nologies and advanced mate-rials that can handle extremely harsh environments. Ti6-4 titanium is used to produce the hydrazine fuel tanks for the European Ariane 5 rocket, and when combined with the special “hot gas pressure forming” technique, the result is a strong and extremely cor-

Science & Technology News

rosion-resistant structure. The same material and process could help in solving corrosion problems encountered in off-shore underwater equipment.

Oil BonanzaAccording to a new study con-ducted at U.K.’s Durham Uni-versity by Prof. Jon Gluyas, oil recovery using carbon dioxide could lead to a North Sea oil bonanza worth £150 billion—but only if the infrastructure to do so is put in place imme-diately. Oil is usually recovered by flushing oil wells through with water at pressure. Since the 1970s, oil fields in West Texas have been success-fully exploited using carbon dioxide. CO2 is pumped as a fluid into oil fields at elevated pressure and helps sweep the oil to the production wells by contacting parts of the res-ervoirs not accessed by water injection. The result is much greater oil production.

Inspiring ShellsAn MIT engineer is developing a process that would remove carbon dioxide from the envi-ronment and turn it into solid carbonates that could be used in construction. By genetically engineering ordinary baker’s yeast, Angela Belcher, the WM Keck professor of energy, and two of her graduate students have created a process that can produce about two pounds of carbonate for every pound of carbon dioxide captured. To create the yeast-powered process, Belcher drew inspi-ration from marine animals that build their own rock-solid shells from carbon dioxide and mineral ions dissolved in seawater.

Caribbean NetworkThe National Science Foun-dation (NSF) has awarded a grant to UNAVCO, Inc., in Boulder, Colo., for the devel-

opment of a tectonic plate-scale integrated geodetic and atmospheric/regional climate observational system in the pan-Caribbean region. COCONet, the Continuously Operating Caribbean GPS Observational Network, will add 50 continuously operating global positioning system (cGPS) stations to those in place in Caribbean and Car-ibbean-border nations. The new cGPS stations will, in some cases, be co-located with existing tide gauges, sup-porting studies of sea-level change in response to global warming. They will be linked with surface meteorological instruments to expand geo-detic and atmospheric obser-vational infrastructure in a region. The data will flow via the EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory. From there, the data will be proc-essed into geodetic products. In addition, scientists will estimate tropospheric precip-itable water vapor every 30 minutes from observations of GPS radio frequency signals.

Technology CountsThe Census of Marine Life, a 10-year project to catalogue all life in the sea, discovered more than 6,000 new species during its “decade of dis-covery,” scientists reported as they unveiled its results in October. The collaboration combined the efforts of scien-tists from research organiza-tions in more than 80 nations. Census researchers conducted 540 expeditions since the program began in 2000 with the goal of assessing and explaining the diversity, dis-tribution and abundance of marine life around the globe. Using the latest technological advances in remotely operated vehicles, autonomous under-water vehicles, and sonar and deep-sea imaging systems,

scientists explored previously inaccessible places, including the deepest, darkest and hottest areas of the global ocean.

Dry WaterLiverpool University researchers believe a sub-stance dubbed “dry water” could be used to collect and transport stranded deposits of natural gas such as exist on the ocean floor in the form of gas hydrates. The substance is known as “dry water” because it consists of 95 percent water and yet is a dry powder. Each powder particle contains a water droplet surrounded by modified silica. The silica coating prevents the water droplets from combining and turning back into a liquid. The result is a fine powder that can soak up gases, which chemi-cally combine with the water molecules to form a hydrate.

Amplified SignalsScientists working on the E.U.-funded international PHASORS project at Southampton Uni-versity have created a device to amplify optical signals car-rying large amounts of data by reducing the interference that gradually builds up over long distances. The amplifier is designed to work with signals that encode data in the phase of an optical wave rather than its amplitude. Southampton’s prototype device works for bi-polar systems that have two levels of coding. The next step is to work with more complex forms of encoded signal.

Feeding FishIn preliminary feeding trials, Sea Grant scientists have removed all the fishmeal from the diets of cultured white sea bass. The early success has far-ranging implications for raising high-value marine




species without using wild fish to make fishmeal. The next challenge will be to try to remove fish oil from the diet, which may prove more difficult.

Big FootScientists have for the first time estimated the physical footprint of human activ-ities on the deep seafloor of the North East Atlantic. The findings, published in the journal PLoS ONE, reveal that the area disturbed by bottom trawling commercial fishing fleets exceeds the combined physical footprint of other major human activities con-sidered. Despite difficulties and various uncertainties, the researchers’ assessment suggests that, although now banned, previously dumped radioactive waste, muni-tions and chemical weapons together have the lowest physical footprint of the human activities considered, although they do not con-sider potential dispersal after leakage. Non-fisheries marine scientific research also has a relatively small footprint, whereas those of fisheries marine scientific research, telecommunication cables and the oil and gas industry are moderate. However, even on the lowest estimates, the spatial extent of bottom trawling is at least ten times that for the other activities assessed, with a physical foot-print greater than that of all the others combined.

No Data, PleaseBeginning January 1, 2011, the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will cease accepting data, all orders and classes, from triangulation and traverse geodetic surveys as they are described in the

Federal Geodetic Control Committee September 1984 “Standards and Specifications for Geodetic Control Networks” for inclusion into the NGS Integrated Data Base.

Smart SensorsThe Open Geospatial Con-sortium and the Smart Ocean Sensor Consortium have signed a memorandum of under-standing to advance sensor observing systems for the ocean community. The two organizations will partic-ipate in joint outreach and marketing activities to raise awareness and interest in smart sensor systems and sensor Web-enablement. The organizations’ first cooper-ative activity will focus on the PUCK protocol for hydro-graphic sensor configuration of MTS member Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Tiny SensorsA researcher at the University of Calgary is working on a new technology that can detect ruptures and other disruptions along pipelines that could potentially pose danger to people or the environment. The system, which for now focuses only on leak detection and location, can be constructed with tiny sensor devices, which are able to send and receive data wirelessly, and perform simple computations. Another aspect of the work investigates how to make sensor networks more energy efficient.

Helpful SensorsNorwegian scientists and industrial companies are leading an eight-member European group in the devel-opment of fishermen’s workwear with built-in life-saving electronics. The sci-entists plan to incorporate a wireless “dead man’s handle” that will stop a small one-man

fishing vessel if its only crew member falls overboard. The same device will also include an alarm that will transmit the boat’s position.

Rising SeasA paper in the journal Geo-physical Research Letters and a report by the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with 39 international scientists, both report on causes of sea-level rise. Marc Bierkens of Utrecht University and col-leagues found that the rate at which global groundwater reserves are shrinking because of human activity has more than doubled between 1960 and 2000, adding enough of it to the ocean (mainly by evapo-ration, then precipitation) to account for about 25 percent of the annual sea-level rise across the planet. The U.S. Geological Survey published a report on the status of gla-ciers throughout all of Asia, noting that many of Asia’s gla-ciers are retreating, having an impact on water sup-plies to millions of people, increasing the likelihood of outburst floods that threaten life and property in nearby areas, and contributing to sea-level rise. New findings by an international research group of scientists from England, China and Denmark just pub-lished suggest that sea level will likely be 30–70 centim-eters higher by 2100 than at the start of the century even if all but the most aggressive geo-engineering schemes are undertaken to mitigate the effects of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions are stringently controlled.

Threatened SeasMarine life in the Mediter-ranean faces the greatest risk of damage and death, the Census of Marine Life shows. Enclosed seas are at greater

risk when chemicals or other garbage are thrown in, because the pollutants will not go away as easily as when tossed in the open ocean, according to Patricia Miloslavich of Uni-versidad Simón Bolívar, Ven-ezuela and co-senior scientist of the census. Surveys iden-tified places such as the Medi-terranean, Gulf of Mexico, China’s shelves, the Baltic and the Caribbean as having the most threatened biodiversity.

Erratic DARTA Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART®) system that was expanded following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people has expe-rienced significant outages and can no longer be relied on to detect the giant waves as they approach the U.S. coastline, a new report finds. The system was expanded from six deep-ocean buoy sta-tions to 39 in the months fol-lowing the massive earthquake and tsunami. Though there are DART buoys in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, most of them are located around the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire” to give advance warning to Wash-ington, Oregon, California and Alaska where a tsunami landfall is thought more likely. But at any given time, 30 percent or more of the buoys have been inoperable, according to a recent report from the National Research Council.

Shape ShifterResearchers in Cyprus have developed an unmanned aerial vehicle that uses shape-changing technology to support maritime search and rescue operations. It can land on sea and land. “The aeroe-lastic control surfaces have specially built electromag-netic actuators and electronics




O


to counteract extreme gusts and turbulence,” explained project coordinator Michael Amprikidis. “This is done by rapidly moving the ailerons in the exact frequency of the air-mass wave.”

Wave SnapperResearchers at New-castle (U.K.) University’s

Resource Centre for Inno-vation and Design have been awarded £20,000 to build on the Snapper technology, a rotary wave energy gen-erator, invented by Prof. Ed Spooner. The Snapper works like a typical linear gen-erator in which a set of magnets mounted in a trans-lator is moved up and down inside multiple coils of wire of an armature. However,


n October 5, President Obama signed an executive order establishing the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force “to coordinate intergovernmental responsibilities, planning and exchange of information so as to better implement Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration and to facilitate appropriate accounta-bility and support throughout the restoration process.”

The task force consists of senior officials from the departments of Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce and Transpor-tation; and from the Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Management and Budget; Council on Environmental Quality; Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Domestic Policy Council, as well as representatives from the five Gulf Coast states and from affected tribes.

there is a crucial difference with Snapper: alongside the armature coils is a second set of magnets of alternating polarity. These armature magnets prevent the trans-lator magnet assembly from moving up and down smoothly in relation to the armature. Instead, magnetic forces between the armature and translator repeatedly couple the two sub-assemblies

together until the external force is able to overcome it. This results in a series of faster relative movements between armature and trans-lator, which are more suited to classical electrical gener-ation. The rotary wave energy generator could provide a significant breakthrough in improving how energy is extracted from the sea. n

Legislative News

John Hankinson, Jr. was named the executive director of the task force by Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Pro-tection Agency who will oversee the restoration task force. Hank-inson has worked as an EPA regional administrator and spent more than 10 years overseeing the restoration of the St. Johns River system in Florida. Most recently, he worked as an environment and conservation lands consultant.

According to the order, the task force is charged with pre-paring a strategy within one year that “proposes a Gulf Coast ecosystem restoration agenda, including goals for ecosystem res-toration, development of a set of performance indicators to track progress and means of coordinating intergovernmental restoration efforts guided by shared priorities.” n

Obama Creates Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force


Education News

Seventeen students attended the OCEANS’10 Student Leadership Meeting, funded by the MTS Board of Directors.

From left: Stephen Faleye, Marcel Montrose and Jake Sobin at the Student Leadership Meeting, which they all attended to give the students a chance to hear

from professional members who made the leap from student membership to leadership in MTS. Faleye co-founded the Houston Section Young Professionals,

Montrose, now a working professional, is finishing up his stint as student representative on the MTS Council, and Sobin chairs the Ocean Pollution Committee.

Students’ Perspectives on OCEANS’10 Leadership Meeting

Editor’s Note: The MTS Student Leadership Meeting at OCEANS’10 included one student from each MTS student section, one at-large member and three students whose attendance at the conference was funded by the Department of Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M-College Station. Atif Saleem, from the University of California-Berkley, was the at-large member. Jesse Bikman was the student repre-sentative from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

See Inspiration on page 21 See Connections on page 21

T“Finding Inspiration Atif Saleem, UC-Berkley

his room has quadrupled since last year,” remarked Rich Lawson, executive director of MTS upon speaking to those of us in attendance at the MTS Student Leadership Meeting. He was just one of the many speakers at the student leadership meeting, all of whom influenced us students to proactively involve our-selves in professional organizations such as MTS in order to succeed. Meeting with all of the other students and mentors at the conference inspired me to continue on my path to involve marine technology in my own scientific research.

Throughout the day we heard from Mike Hall, Jill Zande, Steven Faleye and Chuck Richards, amongst others, who advised us on how to manage a successful student section. Then some stu-dents, including myself, gave presentations on relevant research experiences. After my talk, I was given constructive feedback from all of my peers and advisors so as to strengthen the presen-tation I would give in the technical program that Thursday. After the student meeting I was empowered and driven to not only fortify my efforts to start a student section at UC-Berkeley, but to advance my future goals and aspirations.

A“Making ConnectionsJesse Bikman, UNC-Charlotte

ttending this conference was absolutely a worthwhile decision. While I did miss a full week of class, the opportunity for professional growth available at this junction was incompa-rable to any such experience that could have taken place in Char-lotte in relation to the marine science and technology sector. Myself and another student had just started a student section of MTS at UNC-Charlotte during the previous semester, and it was quite helpful learning about all of the opportunities available in terms of professional growth, as well as organizational growth. I was able to meet an MTS student representative from Duke Uni-versity, which is the other student section in the state of North Carolina (I didn’t even know there were other active student sec-tions in my state!). I also had the opportunity to network with a number of other MTS student members from around the con-tinent and discuss meeting agendas, as well as find out about interesting student research. I also was able to finally meet Jacob Sobin, the chair of the MTS Ocean Pollution Committee, whom I had previously only corresponded with through e-mail with ideas for improving the committee. As for personal pro-


Education News

Hydrovolts HireRavichandra (Ravi) Gadde is Hydrovolts new managing director for India. He is developing a business plan for Hydrovolts India, which has a major national drive for small hydropower.

InterMoor AppointmentJoe Hebert has been named operations manager at MTS member InterMoor. Working out of InterMoor’s new Morgan City, La., facility,

Members and Others in the Newscontinued from page 5

Inspirationcontinued from page 20

Connectionscontinued from page 20

That night I met with several pertinent people at the student mixer where many of us students were able to make professional and academic connections. This mixer made us students feel truly appreciated, since everyone we spoke to conveyed their admi-ration for students to enter this field. It was there that many of us students strengthened our ties, exchanging e-mails and phone numbers with each other to create a dialogue in which we could improve our sections. This was also the time when we made friendships that caused us to support each other through the

fessional growth, I was able to discuss the types of work that people working in the maritime industry experience on a day-to-day basis. I spoke with Jim Ross from Ross Labs in Seattle about how he got into the field of hydrographic surveying, as well as

he will be responsible for managing the operations department ona daily basis, interfacing with clients and project management.

Walsh WatchAs director James Cameron makes plans to recreate man’s deepest dive, MTS member Don Walsh was once again the focus of a feature story in a U.K. publication, which was picked up by other media. The story said Cameron has commissioned a sub-mersible to carry him down to the Marianas Trench so he can record video for a sequel to Avatar. Walsh and Jacques Piccard are the only people to have gone that deep. They reached the bottom on January 23, 1960. n

week, whether at the exhibition hall, Awards Luncheon or talks at the technical program. I enjoyed the talks at the technical program and was pleased to find that several speakers, including Jan Newton from UW, knew my own advisor at UC-Berkeley

The time, then, came for me to present my paper on Thursday. As I perused the audience, I noticed that several students from the Student Leadership Meeting as well as many of our mentors were scattered throughout the audience, gleaming at me with encouragement. This was when my experience at OCEANS’10 cul-minated into the fact that the Marine Technology Society is a supportive, empowering organization that genuinely believes “Opportunity runs deep.” n

Peter Willis from ASL Environmental Sciences in Victoria, Canada, about the type of work that his company does with remote sensing and ocean modeling. It was great getting a heads-up on what I can expect to be learning once I begin graduate school next year and even better getting to find out more about what opportunities will be available once I get out of graduate school and begin to make my impact on the world. n

Budding Engineers Drive ROVs at Festival

Taking a break from manning the MTS/MATE booth are (from left) Liesl Hotaling with the SENSE IT program at Beacon

Institute for Rivers and Estuaries Jill Zande with the MATE Center, Mike Hall with MTS and Erica Moulton with MATE.

Y oungsters navigated remotely operated vehicles to push small pipes on the bottom of the pool—and sometimes to instigate ROV wars—at the MTS and MATE Center booth at the Science and Engineering Festival on the Washington, D.C. Mall in October. The two-day event attracted thousands to the hundreds of booths set up by science and engineering institutions and companies from around the world. Besides hands-on activities at the booths, there were demonstrations and other shows on stages. n

Rafael Mandujano, chair of the MTS Manned Underwater Vehicle Professional Committee, helps get a stubborn ROV back in the pool after stopping by the MTS/MATE booth.


Resources News

LEGAL Q&A

By Montserrat Gorina-Ysern, Ph.D.Chair, Marine Law and Policy Committee

QA How will the U.S., Canada and other stakeholder states deal with Arctic congestion and environmental degradation? Arctic maritime activity is governed by treaties, protocols and industry-driven guide-lines whose effectiveness depends on compliance by treaty parties and Arctic region user states. Canada, the U.S., Russian Federation, Denmark (Greenland) and Norway (Jan Mayen and Svalbard), are Arctic maritime states. Arctic region states include Sweden, Finland and Germany. Non-Arctic states with declared strategic interests include China, Japan and India. In addition, other states (France, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom, European Union, Italy, South Korea), are members of the Arctic Council (www.arctic-council.org), an inter-gov-ernmental forum for Arctic matters with the participation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic. From the legal side, UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) 1982 covers activities in the territorial seas, exclusive economic zones, continental shelf and straits used for international navigation. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) (www.imo.org) is tasked to regulate maritime safety through various conventions (1966 Load lines, 1974 SOLAS and its 78/88 Protocols, 1972 COLREGS, 1979 SAR). Together, IMO and the International Labor Organization deal with seafarers in seven pieces of international legislation. Other con-ventions (1968 Hague Rules, 1979 SDR and Containerized Cargo) govern carriage of goods and passengers by sea. Naturally, shipping and extraction industries in the Arctic are concerned with future “congestion and environmental degradation.” These are governed by environmental conventions dealing with dumping, salvage, marine pollution, anti-fouling, ballast water, wreck removal, liability and compensation schemes, as well as by strict domestic laws on emissions (or spills). However, as MTS member from the Newfoundland and Labrador Section Marcel Montrose observes, “A major concern for fleets operating in the Arctic is that ship design criteria are impacted by the laws of nature: cold air and water temperatures found in the Arctic can wreak havoc on a vessel’s prime mover’s efficiency.” Vessels need to be ice-strengthened, depending on their intended operation profile, which varies under Canadian, U.S. and European Ice Classification Regimes (largely inspired by IMO criteria). Under Canada’s two-tier system, ships may be ice-classed for navigation in icy waters, but may not be Arctic-classed (i.e., required to have ice-breaking capabilities). For further information see www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/marinesafety/tp12260e_1.pdf. For Canadian and World Ice classifications see www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/tp-tp13670-tables-2154.htm; for Canada’s Arctic Shipping Pollution Prevention Regulations see www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/debs-arctic-acts-regulations-asppr-421.htm. For EPA’s emission standards see www.epa.gov/otaq/oceanvessels.htm#emissioncontrol. For a discussion of USCG jurisdiction in Arctic waters see www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-10-870. n

If you have questions you’d like addressed in this column, please send them to Dr. Gorina-Ysern at [email protected].

MoHole WorkshopA report from the June 2010 MoHole workshop in Kanazawa, Japan, is available online. The workshop initiated a roadmap for technology devel-opment and project imple-mentation to achieve the deep-drilling objectives of the MoHole project and iden-tified potential MoHole sites in Pacific fast-spreading crust where the scientific com-munity will focus geophysical site survey efforts over the next few years. Web link: www.iodp.org

pCO2 TestsTo address the need for instru-ments to provide accurate and reliable field measures of pCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide) in surface waters, Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) has completed a demon-stration of four individual in situ pCO2 analyzers. Reports on the performance of each of the four instruments and ACT test protocols are online. Web link: www.act-us.info

Report MisconductBureau of Ocean Energy Manage-ment, Regulation and Enforce-ment (BOEMRE) has a new online and telephone hotline for reporting misconduct and unethical behavior involving BOEMRE personnel, and mis-conduct by persons and com-panies who interact with BOEMRE personnel. Web link: www.boemre.gov/iru; Telephone: (877) 440-0173 or (202) 208-5646.

Civil War ChartsIn honor of the 150th anniver-sary in 2011 of the Civil War, NOAA has assembled a special historical collection of maps, charts and documents prepared by the U.S. Coast Survey during the war years. Web link: www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov



Ocean Community Calendar

JANUARY 8–10Geological Carbon Capture and Storage WorkshopMuscat, [email protected]

JANUARY 19–2111th National Conference for Science, Policy and the Environment: Our Changing OceansWashington, D.C.ncseonline.org/conference/Oceans

FeBRuaRY 7–9arctic technology Conferencehouston, texaswww.arctictechnologyconference.org

FEBRUARY 7–9International LIDAR Mapping ForumNew Orleans, La.www.lidarmap.org/ILMF.aspx

FEBRUARY 10–11 Using Hydroacoustics for Fisheries AssessmentsSeattle, Wash.www.htisonar.com/ha_short_course.htm

FEBRUARY 13–18American Society of Limnology and Oceanography’s Aquatic Sciences MeetingSan Juan, Puerto Ricowww.aslo.org/meetings/sanjuan2011

FeBRuaRY 22–24 underwater Intervention 2011new Orleans, La.www.underwaterinterventioin.com

FEBRUARY 22–24 Naval Defence ExhibitionAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirateswww.navdex.ae

MARCH 15–17Offshore West AfricaAccra, Ghanawww.offshorewestafrica.com

MARCH 20–23 IEEE/OES Tenth Current, Waves and Turbulence Measurement WorkshopMonterey, Calif.www.cwtmc2011.org

MaRCh 22–24 9th International Rope technology Workshop/2011 OIPeeC Conferencetexas a&M university-College station, [email protected]

MARCH 23–25Global energy and Mediterranean OpportunitiesRavenna, Italywww.omc.it/2011/home.php?Lang=en

MARCH 28–29 MCE Deepwater DevelopmentLondon, U.K.www.mcedd.com

MARCH 29–31 Offshore AsiaSingaporewww.offshoreasiaevent.com

APRIL 5–7 Ocean BusinessSouthhampton, U.K.www.oceanbusiness.com

aPRIL 13–14techsurge 2011Ocean Pollution: From technology to Management and Policywww.mtsociety.org/conferences/techsurge

APRIL 18–19ShipTek 2011Dubai, United Arab Emirateswww.shiptek2011.com/index.php

MaY 2–5 Offshore technology Conferencehouston, texaswww.otcnet.org/2011

MAY 31–JUNE 2 MAST 2011: Marine Systems & TechnologyMarseille, Francewww.mastconfex.com

JUNE 7–9 Capitol Hill Oceans WeekWashington, D.C.www.nmsfocean.org

JUNE 7–9 Undersea Defence Technology - EuropeLondon, U.K.udt-europe.com

JUNE 8–10 CTBT: Science and Technology 2011Vienna, Austriawww.ctbto.org/specials/ctbt-science-and-technology-20118-10-june-2011-vienna-austria

JUNE 29–30 Warship 2011: Naval Submarines and UUVsBath, U.K.www.rina.org.uk/warship2011

SEPTEMBER 20–22 RETECH 20113rd Annual Renewable Energy Technology Conference and ExhibitionWashington, D.C.www.retech2011.com

OCTOBER 2–5 Teledyne RD Instruments ADCPs in Action Users’ ConferenceSan Diego, Calif.www.rdinstruments.com/pressrel/pr10-2-5-11.aspx

Spill NewsSPILL International is a new website focusing on the prevention, preparedness, response and restoration sur-rounding marine spills and pollution. Web link: www.spill-international.com

Scientific ProspectusThe Integrated Ocean Drilling Program has released the Scientific Prospectus for Expedition 331, Deep Hot Biosphere. Expedition 331 will characterize subseafloor microbial ecosystems within the context of their physical,

geochemical and hydrogeo-logic setting in the Iheya North hydrothermal field in the mid-Okinawa Trough. Web link: publications.iodp.org/scientific_prospectus/331

Hurricane MapsNOAA’s updated Historical Hurricane Tracks website lets you track local historical storm activity, review specific storm tracks, obtain infor-mation about a particular storm’s landfall and generate customized, downloadable maps based on more than 150 years of Atlantic hurricane data. Web link: csc-s-maps-q.csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes n

Resource Newscontinued from page 22

Offshore StructuresChair Peter Marshall, Ph.D., has made “munch and learn” presentations on the Deep-water Horizon in Houston, Texas; Los Gatos, Calif.; Sin-

Professional Newscontinued from page 11

OCtOBeR 4–6 Offshore technology Conference-BrasilRio de Janeiro, Brazilwww.otcbrasil.org

gapore; and Qingdao, China. These grew out of several discussion groups, including Rice’s Murphy Club and Berke-ley’s Center for Catastrophic Risk Management. Thanks to all who contributed ideas and provided encouragement. Chair: Peter Marshall, [email protected] n

Best Paperscontinued from page 1

The runner up for this year’s award, which included a $500 prize, was “Detection, Recovery, and Destruction System for Sea-Disposed Chemical Munitions: Port Kanda, Japan.” Authored by Joseph K. Asahina, Hisamitsu Shimoyama, Koichi Hayashi and Atsushi Shinkai, the paper appeared in volume 43, number 4, which was a widely sought-

after issue on underwater muni-tions. The authors work for the CWD Projects Department at Kobe Steel in Japan.

All authors receive one-year memberships in MTS.

MTS Journal Editor Brian Bingham announced the winners at the luncheon. Along with their monetary prize, each author and co-author received a plaque that included a picture of the journal in which they published. n

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Part 1 of a special two-part issue:

United States Integrated Ocean Observing System: Our Eyes on Our Oceans, Coasts and Great LakesNovember/December 2010, Vol. ��, No. 6

JOURNAL DEADLINES!• Maritime Domain awareness and Resilience applications for homeland security. Guest editors Roy Wilkens, Michael Bruno and Theophilos Gemelas. Manuscript deadline: January 12, 2011• Biomimetics in Ocean engineering. Guest editors: Donna Kocak, Frank Fish, Ph.D. Manuscript deadline: March 1, 2011Details: www.mtsociety.org/publications

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Look for Part 2 January/February. Buy both volumes for the special price of $30. Call (�10) 88�-�330 to order now!

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