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www.sea-technology.com July 2014 / st 61 USGS Launches iCoast To Identify Coastal Changes The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has launched a new crowdsourc- ing application called "iCoast – Did the Coast Change?" to show coastal changes from storms during hurricane season. iCoast allows citizen scien- tists to identify changes to the coast by comparing aerial photographs taken before and after storms. Crowdsourced data from iCoast will help USGS im- prove predictive models of coastal change and educate the public about the vulnerability of coastal communi- ties to extreme storms. USGS acquires high-resolution aer- ial photography after extreme storms and compares them to imagery col- lected before the storms. These pho- tographs are taken at a low altitude to capture a small area. USGS collects aerial imagery to ground truth and im- prove probability models. USGS determines probabilities of hurricane-induced coastal change for the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to bet- ter inform evacuation, response, pre- paredness and mitigation efforts. USGS creates mathematical predic- tive models from dune elevation and predicted wave action during storms. The human observations will allow the scientists to validate the models and to provide better predictions of damage before storms occur. WatchKeeper Buoy to Support Uruguay LNG Terminal Project AXYS Technologies Inc. (Sidney, Canada) is pleased to announce the sale of its 100th WatchKeeper met- ocean monitoring buoy to Construtora OAS S.A. in Montevideo, Uruguay. OAS will use the WatchKeeper buoy to receive comprehensive environmental data, which will support their LNG ter- minal construction project in Monte- video. The WatchKeeper will transmit directional waves, a water column cur- rent profle, salinity, visibility, air tem- perature, relative humidity, atmospher- ic pressure, wind speed and direction, and precipitation. The data will be sent to OAS offces via real-time cellular and radio telemetries. AXYS commissioned the buoy and provided system training. The buoy was to be deployed by OAS in the spring of 2014. After use in the design phase of the new LNG terminal, the buoy will be transitioned into an operational role to provide real-time data for terminal operations and navigational purposes. NOC Orders C-Enduro To Collect Oceanographic Data The U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has ordered an ASV (Portchester, England) C-Enduro for oceanographic data collection over extended periods of time. Designed to be at sea up to 90 days, C-Enduro is powered by wind power, solar power and a lightweight diesel generator. C-Enduro was developed under a small business research initiative initi- ated by NOC's requirement for a long- endurance USV for environmental research. It was co-funded by the Na- tional Environment Research Council, NOC's parent body, with the Technol- ogy Strategy Board and the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratories. environmental monitoring