The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
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www.sea-technology.com October 2015 / st 63 CLS AMERICA OVER 35 YEARS OF SUPERIOR, RELIABLE SERVICES A GLOBAL PROVIDER OF ENVIRONMENTAL DATA COLLECTION, LOCATION, MONITORING AND OCEAN OBSERVATION SERVICES USING ARGOS AND IRIDIUM WWW.CLSAMERICA.COM CLS America, Inc., 4300 Forbes Boulevard, Lanham, MD 20706, U.S.A. TEL: 301-925-4411 ogy at FAU Harbor Branch is working to adapt a new technology for ben- thic mapping capability: the Bluefn U-4000, an innovative ROV/AUV hy- brid that can operate both in a con- ventional fully autonomous mode and a supervised autonomy mode using a fber-optic tether. The team recently conducted dives with the new technology and other tra- ditional instruments off Florida's east coast, from nearshore to midshelf to the Oculina reefs. The long-term goals of this work are to establish a southeast U.S. autono- mous vehicle test bed; to develop an underwater autonomous platform and a sensing package that can effectively survey and monitor critical deep-coral habitats; and to understand the health and ecosystem dynamics of deep corals in a warming and more acidic ocean. ESPIS Reinvented For Improved Search For BOEM, making informed deci- sions based on science relies on the ability to readily discover relevant sci- entifc information and data analyses. Using the latest geospatial science and database technology, BOEM has rein- vented the Environmental Studies Pro- gram Information System (ESPIS), http:// marinecadastre.gov/espis/#, to stream- line the search, discovery and retrieval of more than 40 years of environmental science. BOEM partnered with NOAA's Offce for Coastal Management to de- sign and host the new ESPIS, building on the success of another BOEM/NOAA partnership, MarineCadastre.gov. This innovation aligns BOEM with the federal government's move toward greater interoperability and openness of government research data and the building of a 21st century digital gov- ernment. BOEM and others who are preparing environmental reviews to comply with NEPA will fnd study reports with more precision by searching expanded meta- data of BOEM-funded ocean research. Regional Planning Bodies can georefer- ence study data more easily. Industry, academia and the NGO community will fnd archived study results from past decades to compare with the latest BOEM research. Enhanced search tools enable users to submit text and map-based queries to fnd relevant study information, in- cluding downloadable electronic docu- ments of study profles, technical sum- maries and fnal reports, and links to associated publications and digital data. New systems architecture leverages MarineCadastre.gov's GIS infrastructure and BOEM/BSEE's Electronic Document Management System. American Student Wins Stockholm Junior Water Prize Perry Alagappan, 18, from the U.S. won the 2015 Stockholm Junior Wa- ter Prize for inventing a flter through which toxic heavy metals from elec- tronic waste can be removed from wa- ter. Combining his interest for water with that of nanotechnology, Alagap- pan created a frst-of-its-kind flter that removes more than 99 percent of heavy metal contaminants from drinking and industrial wastewater. "This project addresses a critical wa- ter issue with broad implications for the whole world," the jury said. "Through its sound science and sustainable tech- nology, the solution is scalable from household to industrial scale for a broad range of applications." ST