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www.sea-technology.com March 2016 / st 9 soundings )) Scripps to Survey SoCal Beaches, Cliffs During El Niño. Timely funding from the U.S. Offce of Naval Research (ONR) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is giving scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California San Diego a chance to create a detailed survey of the elevations of Southern California beaches and cliffs in the midst of one of the strongest El Niño seasons of the last 60 years. Physical oceanographers Ken Melville and Luc Lenain are leading aircraft-based measurements using an imaging suite called the Modular Aerial Sensing System (MASS). During fights along the Southern California coast, lidar equipment measures the elevation of sand and cliffs along California's beaches as they respond to storms and sea levels that are as much as 23 cm higher than historical averages. The lidar, coupled to GPS instrumentation and inertial motion sensors, scans swaths of beach and ocean more than 600-m wide, measuring coastal topography on the scale of centimeters. The Navy has a huge infrastructure at sea level and needs to understand the impact of storms and sea level change not only in Southern California but around the globe. The data, once processed, could serve as a case study for cities and states to follow as they adapt to higher sea levels that will change how they manage coastal and urban infrastructure in coming decades. )) James Ferguson Passes. James S. Ferguson of Port Moody, BC, Canada, passed away at the age of 69. He is survived by his beloved wife, Julie. Ferguson was an outstanding fgure in the world of autonomous underwater vehicles. In 1981, he joined International Submarine Engineering (ISE) following his career as a submarine commanding offcer in the Royal Canadian Navy. During his work at ISE he managed the development of the Dolphin, Sea Lion and Dorado series of snorkeling, diesel-powered AUVs. He also managed the development of the world's frst truly autonomous commercial AUV, "ARCS", which demonstrated autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance in 1985. Another of his major achievements was the development and successful deployment of the Theseus AUV, which deployed two 100-mi. lengths of optical fber under the Arctic ice in 1998. He later managed the development of the ISE Explorer series of AUVs, including the Arctic Explorers, which have performed numerous extended duration autonomous missions all over the world. Ferguson retired from ISE in 2013 and began Third Hand Consulting, through which he worked with numerous companies providing guidance, making introductions, and furthering the development and operation of autonomous underwater vehicles. )) Furuno China Established. Furuno Electric Co. Ltd. announced that the new subsidiary in Hong Kong has been estab- lished and commenced business operation in February. The new subsidiary, Furuno China Co. Ltd. (FCN) is Furuno's wholly owned subsidiary company incorporated in Hong Kong. FCN's main task is to further enhance the sales activities and technical service provision scheme covering the mainland China/Hong Kong market, which is one of the most important geographical locations with remarkable market potential for newbuilds, retroft and services for commercial ships, river and workboat, fshing and the growing pleasure market. In addition, FCN, in close cooperation with the Furuno group of companies, is supporting service of commercial ships during their calling and/or stay in mainland China/Hong Kong. )) Xylem Acquires Tideland. Tideland Signal Corp. has been acquired by Xylem Inc. Tideland will now be part of the Xylem Analytics business and will stand side by side with well-recognized brands such as YSI, SonTek and Aanderaa. Tideland's recent focus has been on actively expanding its applications reach, emphasizing integrated control and monitoring aids to navigation solutions. The additional capabilities that result from the integration with Xylem will continue that trend, en- abling service of a wider array of intelligent data acquisition and analysis applications. )) New Fast Ship Reduces Pollution. InSvivia Technologies has developed a patented stabilization ship design for 80-kt. supercavitation cruising speed, with 74 percent reduced fuel consumption in comparison to classic slow-steaming ships. By cruising fve times faster, the same load amount as four classic ships is transferred, with the crewing, insurance, main- tenance and capital consumption of one ship. The design is for commercial, yacht and military shipping. By cruising from China to the U.S. in 2.5 days instead of two weeks, the patented ship design can compete with air transport and allows for reduced pollution. A 20-mm airfow of 10-m intervals passing at 0.25 s makes for full cavitation distribution with minimal adverse pressure. This design resists porpoising, heeling and pressure oscillations for effciency in rough seas. The extremely small waterline makes for minimal wave resistance, which offers permanent stability in harsh conditions. Below 10-kt. speed, the middle swath-down hull becomes submerged for further stability in the loading process. )) Ardyne Launches, Acquires Wellbore. The new oilfeld services company Ardyne has been launched with £50 million in backing from Lime Rock Partners and has made its frst acquisition. Headquartered in Aberdeen, Ardyne will specialize in the provision of downhole products and services for plug and abandonment (P&A;) and slot recovery operations in the global oil and gas sector. To accelerate its growth, Ardyne has acquired Wellbore AS, a Norwegian oil service company that provides downhole tools for casing cutting and pulling. "This is the ideal time to create a market leader in P&A; and slot recovery," Trevor Burgess, managing director at Lime Rock Partners, said. "Commercial pressures are pushing feld redevel- opment and decommissioning higher up the agenda in the North Sea and elsewhere. Ardyne will help ensure that Aberdeen and Stavanger maintain their position as centers of excellence in the offshore oil and gas business." ST