Clouds
at sunset near the islands in the Indigenous Guna Yala Comarca, Panama,
in the Caribbean Sea, on Aug. 28, 2023. (Lusi Acosta/AFP via Getty
Images)
If something materializes, it could be the last hurricane of the 2024 season.
Hurricane season is waning, but it’s not over yet. Meteorologists are monitoring the western Caribbean for possible storm development toward the end of the month. The next name on the list is “Patty.”
The forecast is far from set in stone. While there’s a lot of uncertainty, weather models are highlighting the risk of a pocket of spin that could consolidate into a named storm. It’s too early to speculate on possible strength or track — especially since there isn’t even a storm yet. But there’s a chance that this system could end up as the final hurricane churning in the Atlantic before the oceans cool and the calendar flips to 2024.
The European model highlights the western Caribbean as a region to watch. (WeatherBell)
What we’re watching
It’s worth noting that, even if a storm forms, the odds of a U.S.impact are slim.
Only four hurricanes in the past century and a half have struck the Lower 48 during November; records date back to near 1850.
The Atlantic has had a busy season. The ACE, or Accumulated Cyclone Energy — a metric which gauges how much energy storms churn through to produce strong winds — is running 30 percent above average.
Weather models are indicating the potential for a CAG, or Central American Gyre, to form. That’s a broad zone of weak spin over Central America and the Caribbean. CAGs usually last between two and five days. Since the spin is diffuse, the gyres themselves aren’t ordinarily a concern. They simply bring unsettled weather, with clouds, showers and a few thunderstorms.
But when thunderstorm complexes help consolidate that spin, that’s when it could tighten and organize into a named storm.
Weather models have historically struggled to simulate specifics of CAG evolution. In other words, they have a difficult time pinpointing where and when a lobe of spin will amalgamate.
That said, the Caribbean is still red hot; oceanic heat content, or hurricane fuel, abounds, and the atmosphere is still plenty supportive for a named storm to form. When a storm might form
If a storm does organize, it will be right around Halloween. That’s also when a batch of upward-moving air will move over the Atlantic, making it easier for storms to form. That will come with something called a Convectively-Coupled Kelvin Wave, or a broad overturning circulation that meanders about the global tropics. The “enhanced” phase is commonly associated with an uptick in tropical activity.
If something does form in the western Caribbean, it’s too early to know whether it would have any chance of entering the Gulf.
This time of year, storms that form in the Caribbean are more likely to drift west; slipping north or northeast would require an absence of cold fronts or disruptive high-altitude winds.
For now, Jamaica, Central America, Cuba and/or Yucatán Mexico should keep tabs on the western Caribbean.
If you wanted to know when the bison were returning, and when to expect the next hearty steak, you likely checked the latest cave update, in Ancient Lascaux, France.
For nearly a century, ever since the caves were discovered in 1940, anthropologists have struggled to decode the lines, dots and Y-shaped marks carved into the rock here.
Now, in a study published last year, researchers from Durham University and University College London, analysed 800 such sequences and found that they contained 13 types of marks (sets of lines, dots and Y symbols), in patterns consistent with the 13 months in a lunar year.
Suddenly, the message of the marks became clearer: they could represent the mating, migration and birthing patterns of the deer, bison and horses drawn alongside.
No one likely lived in the Lascaux caves; they were more of an art and information centre.
And so these marks, made 17,000 to 20,000 years ago, could represent the earliest public data charts in the world.
Go further back, as much as 50,000 years ago, and bones have been found across Africa and parts of Eastern Europe, with notches in them that coincide with the phases of the moon.
These bones would have acted as a sort of early calendar.
These systems, of knots, notches and dashes, would endure for tens of thousands of years.
As recently as the 15th century, in South America — in the vast but largely isolated Inca civilisation that operated without money and without a script — a system of knotted ropes called quipu were used to track transactions and debt; record census data; and track stocks of royal grain reserves.
We have been visualising data in one way or another, then, since more or less the start of collective living.
Charts came before language. Before trade. Before poetry. Because, before tales of love and heroism, we had to tackle the question of how to track: the new sheep added to a flock, the days left before the wildebeest moved south, the number of people in a kingdom or the number of soldiers lost at war.
What would come later was the qualitative and quantitative analysis, says Venkatesh Rajamanickam, a professor of information graphics and data visualisation at the Industrial Design Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B).
“How do festivals make us ‘feel’? What is it like to work in the office versus at home? That came later. But it is only when you record that you can analyse,” he says.
What were some of the earliest charts like?
Take a look.
Stick sea charts; Marshall Islands
(Wikimedia)
For thousands of years, the cluster of about 34 islands and atolls that make up the Marshall Islands used a sort of nautical map to visualise the complex math of tides, currents and ocean swells.
Curved bamboo or pandanus root sticks represented ocean swells; straight twigs stood in for currents and waves; seashells were the islands themselves.
“In a coastal environment, these sticks and shells were a practical choice,” says Rajamanickam. “They could weather rain and seawater, and were easy to carry. The Marshallese would study the charts on land before venturing into the sea.”
Star maps; China
A representation of the Suzhou star chart from the Song Dynasty, China. (Wikimedia)
In Ancient China, star maps were painted and etched onto the ceilings of tombs, onto stone tablets and onto scrolls, in what were likely attempts to help the dead navigate the heavens.
These charts were also used to create calendars, predict celestial events such as eclipses and make astrological divinations.
They helped in early attempts at astronomy.
A particularly interesting such map is a tomb painting dating to 1116 CE. It shows the Great Bear or Ursa Major constellation, depicted as seven red dots connected by lines.
At a distance are nine small discs of varying sizes, believed to indicate the sun, moon and five naked-eye and two invisible planets.
The shadow fleet "threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia's war budget" (Image credit: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images)
Built to evade sanctions, but sabotage may be next
Maybe you've heard of the "hybrid war" — Russian-sponsored attacks on European infrastructure, apparently designed to undermine support for Ukraine. Now the maritime equivalent is emerging: the "shadow fleet."
Finnish officials say a "Russia-affiliated vessel" named the Eagle S appears to have cut an undersea power line that runs between Finland and Estonia, said NPR. The tanker is suspected of being part of the shadow fleet, an armada of ships of "uncertain ownership" that has been used to help Russia evade oil sanctions. The Eagle S is registered in the Cook Islands but had "set off from Russia" the day before the line was severed. Russia is "stepping up pressure against the West," said Janne Riihelainen, a Finnish national security columnist.
The shadow fleet "threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia's war budget," Kaja Kallas, chief of foreign policy for the European Union, said to Politico. Four telecom cables — between Finland and Estonia, and Finland and Germany — were also damaged. In response, Finnish authorities have seized the Eagle S, while Estonian officials said they were stepping up naval patrols. NATO will also "enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea," Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a social media post.
A Russian shadow fleet tanker, Eagle S, detained in Finland
(Finnish Border Guard)
What is the shadow fleet?
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine's Western allies imposed a price cap on Russian oil exports "aimed at limiting and controlling Russian revenues," Sergey Vakulenko said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Russia countered by using hundreds of aging off-the-books tankers owned "outside of the Western coalition." Ship owners busted for evading sanctions can be forced to "scrap the vessel," Vakulenko said. So it makes sense to use old tankers "with low residual value in order to limit the potential losses."
The fleet is designed to keep Russia's oil income flowing, but the idea of using it to "cause havoc may be proving irresistible to the Kremlin," Michael Schwirtz said at The New York Times. The Eagle S incident would be a "clear escalation by Russia in its conflict with the West."
But it would be a natural extension of the low-level conflict taking place across Europe. Russia is "systematically conducting hybrid warfare against its neighboring NATO/EU countries," Estonian interior minister Lauri Läänemets said to the Times.
Ship-to-ship transfers are a key characteristic of the "shadow fleet"
Can the fleet be stopped?
The shadow fleet is a "vexing challenge," said Elisabeth Braw at the Atlantic Council. The longer it operates and the larger it grows, the more it threatens the "functioning of the global maritime order." One option: Governments of seagoing nations should establish a "monitoring hub" to identify and monitor shadow fleet ships.
The EU has sanctioned 79 ships from the shadow fleet, said Business Insider. Those ships are "banned from accessing EU ports and services."
The list could grow — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is calling for expanded sanctions. Russia-connected ships are "damaging major undersea cables in the Baltic Sea almost every month," she said. The attack on the Finland-Estonia power line is an "urgent wake-up call for all of us."
Record date not stated. Arctic America : eastern sheet , Arctic regions, Maps, Canada, Northern, Maps, Greenland, Maps Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection
Copyright: xpiemagsx digcompie09122022-14431
From ArcticToday y Elías Thorsson, Marybeth Sandell
When President-elect Donald Trump once more floated the idea of purchasing Greenland, reactions ranged from ridicule to intrigue.
Critics dismissed the notion as another eccentric Trump proposal. However, history reveals that the United States’ interest in Greenland is far from new—it’s a strategy that dates back more than a century.
From territorial ambitions in the 19th century to Cold War military priorities, Greenland has repeatedly caught the attention of American policymakers.
Greenland in the GeoGarage platform (DGA nautical raster chart)
But while the U.S. has eyed Greenland as a strategic asset, the political and legal dynamics surrounding the island have evolved significantly over time.
Today, Greenland has self-rule and the right to declare independence from Denmark, fundamentally altering the terms of such discussions.
Arctic Today has compiled a timeline of key developments in the history of U.S. interest in acquiring Greenland.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is far from the first American official to cast a wanton eye on Greenland.
Brandon Bell/Pool via Reuters/File Photo
A Timeline of Greenland’s Ownership and U.S. Interest
1823: Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine established U.S. opposition to European colonial expansion in the Americas. While it did not directly mention Greenland, the doctrine laid the groundwork for American territorial ambitions in the region.
The first official Danish map of Greenland where all sections of the coastline of Northeastern Greenland are charted.
(Royal Danish Library)
1868: Early Negotiations
William H. Seward, then U.S. Secretary of State, pursued the acquisition of both Greenland and Iceland.
Reports suggested that negotiations with Denmark for a $5.5 million purchase were nearly complete. However, no formal offer materialized.
1871-1872: Polaris Expedition
During the Polaris Expedition, American explorer Robert Peary claimed much of northern Greenland for the United States.
Although these claims were unofficial, they underscored the strategic interest in the Arctic region.
1910: Renewed Proposals
U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Maurice Francis Egan discussed acquiring Greenland in 1910.
While the idea gained traction in Washington, it did not progress to formal negotiations.
Francis Egan in 1923, wearing the Danish Medal of Merit
(United States Library of Congress)
1917: A Trade with Denmark
In a notable exception to the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. recognized Denmark’s ownership of Greenland in exchange for acquiring the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands).
This agreement was intended to bolster American control over the Caribbean and protect the Panama Canal.
1941: World War II Occupation
When Germany invaded Denmark, the U.S. landed armed forces in Greenland to secure the territory. Denmark, under occupation, agreed to the arrangement, and Greenland became a key American military asset during the war.
The USCG cutter Northland operating off Greenland during World War II.
(U.S. Coast Guard)
1946: The $100 Million Offer
In the post-war period, U.S. interest in Greenland intensified. President Harry Truman offered Denmark $100 million (equivalent to $1 billion today) in gold bullion for the island. Senator Owen Brewster called the purchase a “military necessity” for Arctic defense.
Official portrait of Harry S. Truman as president of the United States.
(Harry S. Truman Library)
1953: Thule Air Base
As part of Operation Blue Jay, the U.S. constructed Thule Air Base in northern Greenland. The base became a vital hub during the Cold War, employing thousands of Greenlanders and hosting nearly 10,000 American personnel.
General view of Thule Air Base, Greenland, Denmark October 31, 2018.
Picture taken October 31, 2018.
Ritzau Scanpix/Linda Kastrup via REUTERS
1979: Greenland Gains Home Rule
Greenlanders voted overwhelmingly in favor of home rule, leading to the establishment of a local parliament. This marked a turning point in Greenland’s autonomy, granting control over areas like education, health, fisheries, and the environment.
1985: Departure from the European Community
Greenland withdrew from the European Economic Community (EEC), reflecting its unique economic and political needs.
The move further solidified Greenland’s distinct identity within the Kingdom of Denmark.
2009: Self-Governance Act
The Self-Governance Act recognized Greenlanders as a distinct people with the right to self-determination under international law. The agreement laid out a pathway to full independence, contingent on Greenland’s economic viability—particularly revenues from mineral extraction.
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe hands over the law of Self government to the chairman of the Greenland Parliament, Josef Motzfeldt at a ceremony at the Greenland parliament, the Landstinget, in Nuuk June 21, 2009.
REUTERS/Keld Navntoft/Scanpix
2019: Trump’s first Proposal
Inspired by discussions with advisor Ron Lauder, President Trump reportedly considered offering Denmark a trade involving Puerto Rico for Greenland. The proposal, discussed in the White House Situation Room, highlighted Greenland’s strategic importance and the enduring allure of its untapped resources.
2024: A Push for Independence
In February 2024, Greenland formally declared independence as its ultimate goal. While Denmark continues to provide significant subsidies, Greenland’s vast mineral wealth—including rare earth elements—offers the potential for economic self-sufficiency.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede speaks at a press conference during the opening of the European Commission’s new office in Nuuk, Greenland, March 15, 2024.
Ritzau Scanpix/Leiff Josefsen via REUTERS/File Photo
2025: Trump’s Renewed Interest
In late 2024, President-elect Trump reignited the discussion about purchasing Greenland.
The idea reportedly originated from conversations between Trump and his pick for ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery.
Trump framed the proposal as a strategic investment to bolster U.S. Arctic dominance and access Greenland’s untapped natural resources.
The renewed push, however, was met with skepticism from both Danish and Greenlandic leaders, who reiterated Greenland’s right to self-determination.
ON 18 FEBRUARY 2024, a missile attack from the Houthi militants in Yemen hit the cargo ship Rubymar in the Red Sea. With the crew evacuated, the disabled ship would take weeks to finally sink, becoming an symbol for the security of the global Internet in the process. Before it went down, the ship dragged its anchor behind it over an estimated 70 kilometers. The meandering anchor wound up severing three fiber-optic cables across the Red Sea floor, which carried about a quarter of all the Internet traffic between Europe and Asia. Data transmissions had to be rerouted as system engineers realized the cables had been damaged. So this year, NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, will begin testing a plan to fix the vulnerability that the Rubymar’s sinking so vividly illustrated.
The world’s submarine fiber-optic lines carry more than 95 percent of intercontinental Internet communications. These tiny, drawn-out strands of glass fiber stretch some 1.2 million km around the planet, each line with the potential to become its own delicate choke point. Between 500 and 600 cables crisscross ocean floors worldwide.
“They’re not buried when they cross an ocean,” says Tim Stronge, vice president of research at the telecommunications consulting firm TeleGeography. “They’re sitting right on the seafloor, and at oceanic depths, at deep-sea depths, they’re about this thick”—he makes a circle with his fingers—“less than a garden hose. They’re fragile.”
NATO’s HEIST project is now investigating ways to protect member countries’ undersea Internet lines, including these 22 Atlantic cable paths, by quickly detecting cable damage and rerouting data to satellites.
Undersea fiber-optic cables, by some estimates, are used for more than US $10 trillion in financial transactions every day, as well as encrypted defense communications and other digital communications. If one sinking ship could accidentally take out a portion of global data transmission, what could happen in an organized attack by a determined government?
Enter NATO, which has now launched a pilot project to figure out how best to protect global Internet traffic and redirect it when there’s trouble. The project is called HEIST, short for hybrid space-submarine architecture ensuring infosec of telecommunications. (“Infosec” is short for “information security.”)
The Houthis probably had no idea what damage they would do by attacking the Rubymar, but Western officials say there’s considerable evidence that Russia and China have tried to sabotage undersea cables. As this article was going to press, two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea—connecting Sweden with Lithuania and Finland with Germany—had been severed, with suspicion resting on a Chinese merchant vessel in the region. Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, went so far as to call the outages “sabotage.”
“What we’re talking about now is critical infrastructure in the society.” —HENRIC JOHNSON, VICE-CHANCELLOR, BLEKINGE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KARLSKRONA, SWEDEN
This year and next, the organizers of HEIST say they hope to achieve at least two objectives: First, to ensure that when cables are damaged, operators will know their precise location quickly in order to mitigate disruptions. Second, the project aims to expand the number of pathways for data to travel. In particular, HEIST will be investigating ways to divert high-priority traffic to satellites in orbit.
“The name of the game when it comes to enabling resilient communication is path diversity,” says Gregory Falco, the NATO Country Director for HEIST and an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University. Ensuring a diversity of Internet pathways, he says, should include “something in the sky rather than [just] what’s on the seabed.”
Testing a Fail-Safe
In 2025, HEIST’s organizers plan to begin testing at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Karlskrona, on the southern coast of Sweden. There, they will experiment with smart systems that they hope will allow engineers to quickly locate a break in an undersea cable with 1-meter accuracy. The researchers will also work on protocols that quickly route data transmissions to available satellites, at least on an experimental scale. And, Falco says, they will try to sort out the thicket of overlapping rules for the use of submarine cables, since there is no one entity that oversees them. Researchers from Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and other countries are involved.
“What we’re talking about now is critical infrastructure in the society,” says Henric Johnson, vice-chancellor of BTH and coordinator of the HEIST testbed effort. Its location, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is important: It’s a vital waterway both for NATO countries and for the Russians. “We have had incidents of cables that have been sabotaged between Sweden, Estonia, and Finland,” says Johnson. “So those incidents are for us a reality.”
TeleGeography’s Stronge says that even without any deliberate sabotage, there are about 100 cable cuts a year, most of them fixed by specialized ships on standby in ports around the world. A single repair can take days or weeks and cost several million U.S. dollars. But up to now, telecom operators—and many countries—have had no choice.
“Think about Iceland,” says Nicolò Boschetti, a Cornell doctoral student working on HEIST. “Iceland has a lot of financial services, a lot of cloud computing, and it is connected to Europe and North America by four cables. If those four cables get destroyed or compromised, Iceland is completely isolated from the world.”
Satellite links can bypass damaged cables, but perhaps the biggest limitation of satellite backups is their throughput. The volume of data that can be transmitted to orbit is orders of magnitude less than what fiber optics currently handle. Googlesays some of its newer fiber-optic lines can handle 340 terabits per second; most cables carry less, but still dramatically outperform the 5 gigabits per second that NASA says can be sent via satellite in the Ku band (12–18 gigahertz), a widely used microwave frequency.
“[The undersea cables] are not buried when they cross an ocean. They’re sitting right on the seafloor, and at oceanic depths, at deep-sea depths.... They’re fragile.” —TIM STRONGE, VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH, TELEGEOGRAPHY
Laser transmissions still have limitations. They’re easily blocked by clouds, haze, or smoke, for example. They must be aimed with precision. Delayed signals (also known as latency) are also an issue, especially for satellites in higher orbits. The HEIST team says it will be testing out new ways to expand bandwidth and shrink signal delay time—for instance, by aggregating available radio frequencies, and by prioritizing what data gets sent in case of trouble. “So there are ways around this,” says Cornell’s Falco, “but none of them are a silver bullet.”
Falco says a key to finding good answers is an open-source process at HEIST. “We’re going to make it super-public, and we’re going to want people to poke a lot of holes in it,” he says. He says give-and-take and repeated reinvention will be essential for the project’s next phase. “We’re going to enable this capability,” he says, “faster than anyone would have believed.”
Figure includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five migrants trying to reach Europe fleeing war and poverty
More than 2,200 people either died or went missing in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe in search of refuge in 2024.
The figure, cited in a statement from Regina De Dominicis, the regional director for Europe and central Asia for the UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, was eclipsed on New Year’s Eve when 20 people fell into the sea and were reported missing after a boat started to take in water in rough seas about 20 miles off the coast of Libya.
Some of the 59 people rescued in the waters of El Hierro on 2 January 2025. Photograph: Gelmert Finol/EPA
Despite the waves, seven people, including an eight-year-old Syrian boy, managed to continue the journey on the tilting vessel before being found by an Italian police patrol boat on Tuesday night close to the southern island of Lampedusa.
The 6-metre boat had left Zuwara in Libya at 10pm on Monday and started to take in water about five hours later, creating panic and causing 20 passengers to fall overboard, according to witness statements provided by the six adult survivors.
In a separate incident on Monday, two people, including a five-year-old child, died and 17 survived after the vessel they were on broke down off the northern Tunisian coastline during an attempt to reach Europe.
De Dominicis said: “The death toll and number of missing persons in the Mediterranean in 2024 have now surpassed 2,200, with nearly 1,700 lives lost on the central Mediterranean route alone.
“This includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five of all people migrating through the Mediterranean. The majority are fleeing violent conflict and poverty.”
In December, an 11-year-old girl, wearing a simple life vest and clinging to a pair of tyre tubes, was rescued off Lampedusa.
She told rescuers she had spent three days at sea after a shipwreck that is presumed to have killed 40 people.
A month earlier the German NGO Sea-Watch filed a criminal complaint to prosecutors in Sicily accusing the Italian coastguard of negligence and multiple manslaughter over a shipwreck off Lampedusa that killed 21 people.
The NGO said it had notified the Italian authorities of the boat in distress on 2 September, but alleged that the coastguard did not dispatch a rescue vessel until two days later.
At least four boats have capsized in the central Mediterranean since Tuesday, according to Alarm Phone, an organisation that runs a hotline for people in distress at sea.
Italy is one of the main landing points for people trying to reach Europe, with the central Mediterranean route considered one of the world’s most dangerous.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration has registered at least 25,500 deaths and disappearances during the Mediterranean crossing since 2014.
Most of the deaths or disappearances are attributed to boats departing from either Tunisia or Libya.
People still attempt the high-risk journey despite deals struck between Italy and the EU with Tunisia and Libya to stop migrant boats from leaving.
According to the Italian interior ministry, 66,317 people managed to reach Italy in 2024, less than half the number in 2023.
The hardline policies of Giorgia Meloni’s government are at least partly credited for the decrease.
The deal with Libya essentially pushes people back to detention camps where they face torture and other abuses.
A €670m (£556m) deal to transport 3,000 people intercepted in Italian seas each month to Albania, where they would have their asylum claims processed, came into force in October and is also supposed to act as a deterrent.
But the plan has so far been unsuccessful due to legal issues. Links :
China unveils monster explorer ship with 17,261-mile-range, ice breaking power
China has taken a major leap in deep-sea science and technology with the commissioning of Tansuo 3, its first homegrown multifunctional scientific exploration and cultural relics archaeological ship, commissioned in Hainan Province.
China’s first-ever, domestically developed deep-sea multi-functional exploration ship has officially entered service.
Called the Tansuo-3 (Exploration-3), the ship has now been commissioned in Sanya City in south China’s tropical island province of Hainan.
She joins China’s existing fleet of other icebreaker ships, including the Xuelong, Xuelong 2, and Jidi, belonging to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The announcement came on Sunday (Dec 29), and the ship will begin conducting deep-sea research missions in the first half of 2025.
This news now significantly expands China’s manned submersible exploration capabilities.
The ship will now be operated by its new owner, the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering. According to state news sources, she was jointly designed by researchers from the Sanya Institute, China State Shipbuilding Corp’s Guangzhou Shipyard International Co., and other research entities. Tansuo-3 is now ready for service
“More than 100 domestic institutes, universities, and enterprises participated in the ship’s research, development, and construction. Designers and engineers developed a lot of new technologies and equipment through the project, according to the Sanya Institute,” the People’s Republic of China State Council said in a press release.
Construction began on the Tansuo-3 in June of 2023 at the Guangzhou shipyard, and the main body was completed in April.
She also completed an eight-day sea trial in late October and returned to her shipyard for final fit-out.
According to reports, the ship will carry a full-ocean-depth Human Occupied Vehicle (HOV) known as Shenhai Yongshi (Deep Sea Warrior) for regular scientific research operations.
This will also enable the Tansuo-3 to conduct deep-sea trials and archaeological studies in the South China Sea and beyond.
The ship also has world-class scientific equipment, such as advanced deep-sea sonar and release systems for crewed and robotic submersibles.
She also carries equipment to perform underwater excavations and recovery.
According to other reports, the ship is hoped to commence manned deep-sea submersible operations in abyssal oceans in the second half of 2025.
The ship is also theoretically capable of deep-sea exploration in various environments, including polar regions, thanks to its for and aft icebreaker features.
China unveils monster explorer ship with 17,261-mile-range, ice breaking power
The Tansuo-3 measures 104 meters long and has a displacement of 10,000 tons.
She was independently designed and built exclusively using Chinese contractors.
The vessel can reach a top speed of 16 knots (30 kilometers per hour) and has a designed range of 15,000 nautical miles (around 27,780 kilometers).
She has a crew capacity of around 80.
The Tansuo-3 also features a 6-meter by 4.8-meter moon pool (opening at the base of the hull) to ensure scientific exploration operations on floating ice and under challenging maritime conditions.
“The new ship’s deployment is expected to improve the country’s deep-sea scientific exploration efforts, helping scientists better understand the deep-sea ecosystem, geological structures, and distribution of marine resources, according to researchers,” the People’s Republic of China State Council added.
Tansuo-3’s commissioning marks a significant breakthrough in China’s autonomy in developing key core technologies, featuring not only domestically developed equipment but also independently developed key control systems.
Le Grand Sud welcomes you! Don't be fooled by this beautiful rainbow, from now on the elements will become more hostile and the race more complex. Guirec Soudee has been waiting for this moment since March 2018.
Back then, he had turned back with Monique aboard Yvinec 1, which wasn't a boat cut out for these conditions. At the time, he promised himself he would return one day with a boat capable of tackling these Dantean seas.
Today, with the IMOCA Freelance.com, he has done just that, and Guirec is grateful for every moment of it.
Guirec is the second fastest dinghy over the last 24 hours (16 knots average speed), just behind King Jean, despite very heavy seas. He will now have to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent without ever entering the ZEA (Antarctic Exclusion Zone) defined by Vendée Globe race management. This high-risk ice zone is forbidden on pain of penalties. In view of the depressions that will now follow one another, the expression “safety first” is the order of the day. Go Guirec Go! To find out more about the 40th and 50th, download the Guirec educational kit
A perfect rainbow in the South Seas with Thomas Ruyant (Dec 7th 2024)
Links :
Mapfre in the Volvo ocean
Dongfeng (Charles Caudrelier) in the Volvo Ocean (photo Jeremy Lecaudey)
Ingmar and Katarina
Ravudd tell PBO about the steps they took to save their Arcona yacht
after a broken rudder stock punched a hole in the hull, causing the boat
to sink
Ingmar and Katarina Ravudd were sailing their Arcona yacht, IdaLina from Panama to French Polynesia when a loud bang indicated that not all was well on board.
Without warning, the aluminium rudder stock on the Arcona 460 broke; the boat was 200 miles from making landfall in Marquesas, French Polynesia.
The Swedish couple last checked the Jeffa spade rudder and bearings in January 2023 while IdaLina was on the hard in Trinidad.
The boat was antifouled with Coppercoat,
but Ingmar said they had followed the instructions from Jeffa, painting
epoxy up to 15mm on the aluminium, and using a non-metallic antifouling
paint 5cm around the rudder.
The Arcona yacht, IdaLina on the first day Ingmar and Katarina sailed her.
Credit: Katarina Ravudd
“I was down below and I didn’t hear the sound. People have asked us
if we hit something but I heard no sound at all inside the boat. Ingmar
heard a short, sharp sound underneath where he was standing. He called
me and said “Look at this, I have no rudder” and he could turn the wheel
with a finger.
My first thought was the chain had snapped so I opened up the hatch and
the rudder stock was broken immediately below the steering quadrant
inside the lazarette. That was not what I expected to see,” explained
Katarina.
According to the Arcona website, the Arcona 460 rudder is made of
glass fibre with multiaxial roving, and filled with polyurethane foam.
The rudder stock is made of water-resistant aluminium, laminated into
the rudder and friction is minimised due to self-aligning roller
bearings.
The rudder is also supported axially by ball bearings.
Katrina contacted two nearby Swedish boats – Pacific Wind and Yaghan
– advising them of their situation.
At the time, they were sailing in
20-knot winds, with occasional squalls gusting 27 knots and 2.5m waves.
The broken rudder stock.
Credit: Katarina Ravudd
Initially, Ingmar and Katarina decided to rig lines from winches to
the rudder to provide steering; at this point, there was no indication
that the boat was taking on water.
They had already dropped the boat’s
sails and turned off the autopilot.
They also had a Hydrovane
self-steering system which could have been used as an emergency rudder.
“Our idea was to fix the rudder; to take a line from the winch down
through the upper bearings to below the lower quadrant for the autopilot
to lift it up and fix it as close as possible to the hull.
As the
rudder stock is mounted inside, the movement of the broken upper part of
the rudder stock was restricted due to the middle floor made of marine
plywood.
Before we were ready it suddenly dropped 10 cm, and
unsupported, the rudder stock had much more movement, which caused the
lower quadrant to get stuck into the protecting polyester cylinder
around the stock, and the force broke the protecting polyester cylinder
free from the hull.
It was about 1.5 hours from the moment it broke
until the rudder stock dropped down, and that was when the big problem
started,” explained Ingmar.
The couple removed some of the glassfibre and rubber sealing to gain
access to the lower quadrant.
By now, it was clear the Arcona yacht was
taking on water; they removed the four bolts that held the quadrant
together so they could push down the rudder to try and patch the leak.
The Arcona yacht, IdaLina was fitted with a Hydrovane self-steering system.
Credit: Ingmar Ravudd
“The glassfibre cylinder [which holds the lower bearings and protects
the rudder stock] was totally broken and the aluminium tube of the
lower bearing was separated from the other parts.
There were sharp parts
from the glassfibre that had broken,” said Katarina.
Initially, they tried to use an inflatable repair kit to plug the
hole, but the part in the valve to blow it up was missing. Instead, they
used a diver’s surface marker buoy, but sharp plastic punctured it.
“We had to use the sealing equipment we had without being able to
inflate the sealing ring. It consists of a stick with a rope tied in the
middle that you thread through the hole.
The line passes through the
centre of a round flat plastic disc with a clam cleat on top.
It was
tightened tightly over the hole.
We pushed the disc down with bridge
fenders and other things we had available.
However, the water pressure
caused the disc to leak when the stern pumped in the waves,” said
Ingmar.
At the same time, the Arcona yacht’s bilge pump
and a separate 230V bilge pump were struggling to cope with the rate of
water ingress and needed attention; debris including food can labels
had clogged them.
Although Ingmar cleared the problem, it became increasingly obvious
to both Ingmar and Katarina that they needed to shift their focus from
saving the boat to saving themselves.
From the boat initially taking on
water, it took 1.5 hours for IdaLina to sink.
“It was hard to say we would not be able to save her, and we would
have to save ourselves instead. That was the hardest part,” said
Katarina.
“I called up Pacific Wind, and I told them, “We will sink;
we are taking on water”.
The water was already 8 inches down below.
"We
were never afraid.We were so lucky; apart from the boat sinking all of
the circumstances were in our favour. We cut the string between the raft
and IdaLina four minutes before she went down and then Pacific Wind came, arriving just as she was sinking.”
The Arcona 460, IdaLina just moments before she sank.
Credit: Katarina Ravudd
It took 1.5 hours for the Arcona yacht, IdaLina to sink.
Credit: Ingmar Ravudd
25 minutes later, Katarina and Ingmar were safely onboard Pacific Wind.
As part of their usual cruising plans, the couple already had two
emergency grab bags with the boat’s papers, their passports, and
emergency gear.
In addition, they packed six extra bags with food,
clothing, computers, their mobile phones and water.
Reflecting on the experience, Katarina said she would have done things differently.
“In my first call to Yaghan, who were 12nm ahead of us, they asked
if we wanted assistance and I said no. Today, I would have said yes. I
would also make sure I packed our multi-purpose suits and our money with
us. We had survival suits and multipurpose suits as we planned to go to
Alaska, but in hindsight, we should have taken multi-purpose suits with
us as although we spent 25 minutes in the raft, it could have been a
lot longer if Pacific Wind had struggled to find us.”
A tired Ingmar safely on board Pacific Wind.
Credit: Ingmar Ravudd
Ingmar would also equip the boat with a higher capacity pump and ensure there was a watertight bulkhead around the rudder.
Arcona is still investigating the sinking.
Other sailors have also
not been shy in coming forward with theories and comments on the sinking
of the Arcona yacht.
“We get a lot of people telling us what we should have done, that it
was no problem to sail a boat with a hole in the hull for 200nm,” said
Katarina.
“Often when you think of a hole in your boat, it is a through-hull fitting
which has broken and for that, you have lots of plugs and bungs. But in
our case, we suddenly had a hole with a 6-inch diameter which is
jagged. People have told us we should have dived under the boat to plug
the hole but in the conditions we were in, that would have been wishing
death.”
In an earlier statement, the CEO of Arcona Yachts, Fredrik Malmqvist,
said, “At Arcona Yachts, safety is our priority, and we are therefore
taking this very seriously.
“We understand from the Arcona 460 owners that the rudder stock was
broken, however, we don’t yet know how or why. We are working closely
with our suppliers and key people to immediately investigate this
serious incident further.
Ingmar and Katarina safely in Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
Credit: Katarina Ravudd
Ingmar and Katarina are now looking for another boat, although their plan to sail around the world is over.
“Ingmar found me a boat, a First Seascape 24 called Unsinkable
which would be perfect,” said Katarina.
“We are planning to go back to
French Polynesia for a few weeks and hopefully next summer we may be
able to do Alaska for a few weeks or so, but we are not going to buy a
new boat to continue going around the world.”
The year 2024 is likely to be remembered for significant geopolitical conflict and rising tensions between several nations.
As the maritime industry operates on a global scale, it is no surprise that these tensions have had an impact on shipping.
Recent disruptions in global maritime trade have significantly affected key routes such as the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
These disruptions pose major risks to trade reliability and global supply chains.
Seafarers on the front lines
The escalating geopolitical tensions and maritime conflicts of 2024 have placed seafarers at significant risk, transforming critical waterways into active danger zones.
With incidents such as missile strikes on vessels, hijackings, and targeted attacks in regions like the Red Sea and the Black Sea, seafarers are increasingly caught in the crossfire.
These threats not only endanger lives but also create immense psychological stress for crew members, who must navigate volatile waters while fearing for their safety.
The fatal attack on the MV True Confidence in March 2024, which claimed three crew members’ lives, underscores the severity of these risks.
Beyond physical harm, seafarers have also faced prolonged detentions, such as the crew of the MV Galaxy Leader, and the constant anxiety of operating in regions prone to hostilities.
To put the numbers into perspective, the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) reported that 740 Filipino seafarers had been victims of attacks while navigating the volatile waters of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden up to November 2024.
As these dangers persist, protecting seafarers and ensuring their welfare must become a global priority. Stronger security measures, enhanced mental health support, and robust diplomatic efforts are essential to mitigate risks in high-conflict zones.
Understanding the dynamics of the conflict
The geopolitical instability in the Middle East has been significantly heightened since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist attack in Israel, setting off a chain of regional conflicts.
This attack not only exacerbated tensions between Israel and Hamas, but also drew in other actors, most notably Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran.
Iran’s involvement has added further complexity to the situation, particularly due to its ongoing tensions with the United States.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have aligned with Hamas, targeting vessels in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and explosives, resulting in approximately 90 reported attacks.
However, despite international efforts, the situation remains unresolved, with far-reaching consequences.
Beyond the security threat, the conflict has also presented significant environmental risks.
In August 2024, the Greek oil tanker MV Sounion, carrying 150,000 tons of crude oil, was attacked by Houthi rebels, causing extensive damage and a fire onboard.
This incident underscored the need for stronger protection for vessels operating in conflict zones.
Furthermore, the ongoing hostilities in the Red Sea have led to increased carbon emissions from ocean freight shipping, as vessels are forced to avoid the region and reroute through the Cape of Good Hope. According to the Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI), emissions reached a record high of 107.4 points in Q1 2024, driven by a 63% rise in emissions for shipments from the Far East to the Mediterranean, and a 23% increase for shipments to Northern Europe.
Attacks on Black Sea ports and the rise of the shadow fleet
These attacks have targeted key facilities, severely affecting Ukraine’s grain exports and its overall economic stability.
Furthermore, 2024 witnessed a significant rise in shadow fleet activity, driven largely by sanctions imposed by the EU and other nations.
The “shadow fleet” refers to older tankers that often lack proper maintenance, inspections, and insurance coverage.
These vessels are frequently operated under unclear ownership and attempt to evade sanctions by operating without their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) turned on.
According to Gibson, nearly 63% of tankers built in 2009 or earlier are now engaged in grey fleet activity, often trading sanctioned goods from countries like Iran, Venezuela, and Russia.
By mid-2024, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) had more than doubled from late 2023, driven by longer shipping distances, higher fuel consumption, and rising insurance premiums.
If this surge in freight rates continues, global consumer prices could rise by 0.6% by 2025, as higher shipping costs are passed on to consumers.
The impact is especially severe for vulnerable economies that rely heavily on maritime transport.
Rising shipping costs are eroding trade competitiveness, threatening economic stability, and fueling inflation.
Furthermore, Lloyd’s of London highlighted that with more than 80% of the world’s imports and exports – around 11 billion tons of goods – at sea at any given time, the closure of major trade routes due to a geopolitical conflict is one of the greatest threats to the resources needed for a resilient economy.
Looking Forward
From the escalating threats in the Middle East to the rise of shadow fleet activity, the maritime industry is confronting a series of unprecedented challenges.
These developments are not only jeopardizing the safety of seafarers but also disrupting global supply chains and threatening vulnerable economies.
To effectively address these issues, it is crucial for the global community to prioritize international cooperation, ensuring a coordinated response that can mitigate the risks and address challenges.
Clouds
at sunset near the islands in the Indigenous Guna Yala Comarca, Panama,
in the Caribbean Sea, on Aug. 28, 2023.
Record date not stated. Arctic America : eastern sheet , Arctic regions, Maps, Canada, Northern, Maps, Greenland, Maps Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection
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