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Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/571837
www.sea-technology.com September 2015 / st 9 soundings )) Shell Approved for Drilling Offshore Alaska. Shell has received approval from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and En- vironmental Enforcement (BSEE) to conduct exploratory drilling activities into potential oil-bearing zones off- shore Alaska at one of the wells at the Burger Prospect, Burger J. Shell was previously restricted from drill- ing into oil-bearing zones in Burger J since a capping stack was not on hand and deployable within 24 hours, as required by BSEE. A capping stack is a critical piece of emergency response equipment designed to shut in a well in the unlikely event of a loss of well control. The capping stack is now in the region and capable of being deployed within 24 hours. Shell is still prohibited from simultaneous drilling at Burger J and V, in accordance with limita- tions related to marine mammal protection. The company also remains limited to the top section of the Burger V well. )) New Vice Commandant for USCG. U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Vice Adm. Charles Michel formally assumed the role of vice commandant of the Coast Guard. He will oversee the Coast Guard's operations, strategic develop- ment, organizational governance, and management of the service's more than 58,000 employees and 30,000 vol- unteers. Michel became the 30th vice commandant of the Coast Guard after serving as the service's deputy com- mandant for operations. His previous fag-offcer assignments include: deputy commander of U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area; director of Joint Interagency Task Force South; military advisor to the secretary of Homeland Secu- rity; and the director for the Coast Guard's governmental and public affairs directorate. He graduated from the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in 1985. In 1992, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law. )) Testing for Optimized AUVs. Partnering with Teledyne Gavia in San Diego, California, UTEC Survey has completed opera- tional testing of features designed to optimize AUVs for commercial survey applications. Operating at a constant altitude above the seabed but decoupled from the surface, low-logistics AUVs provide enhanced safety and a more stable, reliable, low-noise platform capable of gathering high-quality data throughout the operating depth range. They offer higher productivity and the ability to survey in very shallow water to 2 m. The trials focused on deep operations at 1,000 m, with the AUV taking 25 min. to travel from the surface to its survey depth. Features trialed included a new detachable foat nosecone and pneumatic line thrower, allowing the AUV to be safely retrieved at greater stand-off distances; a redesigned Teledyne Band-C acoustic mo- dem transducer for improved seabed communication; and a side scan sonar system from EdgeTech and L-3 Klein Associates. )) Satellite Launch for Pacifc Ocean Connectivity. The third satellite in the Global Xpress (GX) program, Inmarsat-5 F3 (I-5 F3), was scheduled for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan August 28. It will cover the Pacif- ic Ocean Region and will, together with Inmarsat-5 F1 and Inmarsat-5 F2, create the world's frst globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider. Global Xpress will deliver broadband speeds around 100 times faster than the company's fourth generation (I-4) constellation, even in the remotest and most inac- cessible regions of the world. Inmarsat expects to commence global commercial GX services by the end of the year. )) 20 Qualifed Teams Chosen for DOE Wave Energy Contest. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Wave Energy Prize (waveenergyprize.org), a 20-month design-build-test competition with prizes totaling more than $2 million, has announced that 20 teams have been identifed as offcial qualifed teams and will continue in the competition. The teams were se- lected from the feld of 92 offcial registered teams announced in July. They will continue their quest to double the energy captured from ocean waves. The DOE competition is encouraging the development of game-changing wave energy con- version (WEC) devices that will achieve the DOE's goal of doubling energy captured, which will in turn reduce the cost of wave energy, making it more competitive with traditional energy solutions. Qualifed teams will now build a 1/50th-scale model and participate in small-scale tank testing as a means of validating their concepts. Finalist teams, to be announced March 2016, will be selected based upon the requirements of the prize's second technology gate. These teams will have the opportunity to receive seed money to build their 1/20th-scale WEC prototypes, to be tested beginning summer 2016. )) Sunburst Sensors Wins Two XPRIZE Grand Prizes. Sunburst Sensors, a team of chemists and engineers from Montana, took home a $750,000 Accuracy Grand Prize (based on performance) and a $750,000 Affordability Grand Prize (based on cost and usability) as part of the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, a global competition to incentivize breakthroughs in pH sensor technology to accurately and affordably measure ocean acidifcation. Sunburst Sensors successfully iterated upon their previously developed commercial sensors to create two new breakthrough sensors: the i-SAMI ("i" for inexpen- sive) and the t-SAMI ("t" for titanium), which won the Affordability Prize and the Accuracy Prize, respectively. The Second Place Prize in Affordability was awarded to ANB Sensors from Cambridge, England, and the Second Place Prize in Accuracy was awarded to Team DuraFET from Plymouth, Minnesota, and Monterey Bay, California, each taking home $250,000. )) Concrete Find From MH370. The frst debris from fight MH370, which disappeared over the ocean March 2014, has been confrmed. A wing fragment of the Boeing 777 washed up from the Indian Ocean onto Reunion Island. The cause of the fight's di- version from its original path of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing remains a mystery. The search for clues in the Indian Ocean continues. ST