Sea Technology

DEC 2012

The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community

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marineelectronics Sensors, Satellites and Gliders Track Hurricane Sandy From vehicles in the water to satellites in the sky, numerous ocean technologies worked overtime tracking Hurricane Sandy as it rolled over the U.S. East Coast in October. Before the storm, U.S. government agencies such as NOAA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey worked to secure the storm-tide sensors to piers and poles in areas where the storm was expected to make landfall. The instruments recorded the precise time the storm-tide arrived, how ocean and inland water levels changed, the depth of the storm-tide and how long it took for the water to recede. This data will be used to assess storm damage, discern between wind and food damage and improve computer models used to forecast future coastal inundation. Collected data will be available at http://water.usgs.gov/foods/ events/2012/sandy/sandymapper.html. 78 st / DECEMBER 2012 Liquid Robotics Inc.'s (Sunnyvale, California) Wave Glider Mercury survived Hurricane Sandy and successfully piloted through winds up to 70 knots while transmitting weather data in real time. One hundred miles due east of Toms River, New Jersey, the weather sensors on the Wave Glider gathered data from the ocean surface, reporting a plunge in barometric pressure of more than 54.3 millibars to a low of 946 millibars as Sandy neared landfall. Prior to the hurricane, scientists from Liquid Robotics, Sonardyne International Ltd. (Yateley, England), Rutgers University and the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System deployed the Wave Glider and two Sonardyne undersea nodes as part of an ocean-observing technology demonstration project for ocean measurement and tsunami detection. Oceanographers at Rutgers University were also keeping an eye on Sandy, collecting data from a Slocum glider that had been deployed several days before the storm. Over the next www.sea-technology.com 12 days, the glider transmitted data hourly, according to NewsWorks.org. NOAA and NASA satellites also observed the storm, with NASA creating 3D images of Hurricane Sandy with data from its Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) captured a global view of Hurricane Sandy, from birth to landfall. Sensor Differentiates Seafoor Bombs From Mineral Deposits The Commonwealth Scientifc and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has developed a sensor to detect undetonated explosives on the seafoor based on technology used to fnd mineral deposits underground. The sensor was developed as part of a project with the U.S. Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Sky Research (Hanover, New Hampshire). The method for fnding undetonated underwater explosives is very similar to that used to detect underground mineral deposits, said CSIRO electrical engineer Keith Leslie. "Our highly sensitive sensor—the high-temperature superconducting ten-

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