In some article of the last edition of Digital Ship, Andy Norris explores some common problems with ECDIS operation and chart management, specifically determining update status, loading charts and route planning.
One of the greatest obstacle to the implementation of mandatory ECDIS will be the hurdle of educating seafarers appropriately in use of the technology.
Many user shortcomings are today being blamed on the consoles and charts.
Norris cites inability to determine when an ENC was last updated as a frequent complaint. Firstly, he describes this challenge as far smaller than doing the same with paper charts.
Many ECDIS are updated simply by inserting a disk and following on-screen commands.
Despite the automation, Norris still advises users to: "keep a manual log of when a disk is loaded, together with a note on whether any problems occurred during the update process."
Finding and loading the appropriate charts from a chart catalogue is described as a necessary learned skill.
Once the correct chart is found in the library (including the largest available scale of any chart on, or immediately adjacent to, the planned route), it can be acquired very quickly, and much more easily than a paper chart.
It is often either a question of obtaining a code via email, or - in some cases - opening it (the purchase order and billing are arranged after the fact).
Finally, issues related to route planning are addressed.
Among the biggest problems here is dealing with the small screen of an ECDIS compared to a paper chart.
Here, Norris advises planning a route starting with a zoomed out image that spans full ocean crossings via great circles as waypoints, then refining the route later in larger scale charts.
He concludes by urging mariners to undertake both a manual check and an ECDIS automated check for hazards along the route.
Actually Andy Norris spoke about the need for users to develop an ECDIS “mindset.”
Significant differences in the skills need to use ECDIS compared with using paper charts required a “major adjustment” in the approach needed to ensure safe navigation, he said.
Once mastered, ECDIS provides the means to improve navigational safety but this is not achieved just by the completion of a short course.
“The skills have to be developed and honed in the context of the knowledge gained at the course and other sources of guidance. The use of ECDIS, in general, is not paper chart techniques transferred to a screen,” he said.
The use of ECDIS is a total change from using paper charts and the transition from paper charts to electronic poses a challenge for the industry, particularly for those who have no current experience of electronic charts.
Important bridge procedures are significantly affected, and these require careful analysis and consideration if ECDIS assisted groundings are to be avoided.
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Listening to the ocean for more comprehensive study of the seas
Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) are expanding in the World Ocean as a result of climate change and direct anthropogenic influence.
OMZ expansion greatly affects biogeochemical processes and marine life, especially by constraining the vertical habitat of most marine organisms.
Currently, monitoring the variability of the upper limit of the OMZs relies on time intensive sampling protocols, causing poor spatial resolution.
The French Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and the Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE) have developed an innovative acoustic method to observe the evolution of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) in the world's oceans.
This new technique makes it possible to measure these oxygen-free (anoxic) zones, which are home to many marine organisms, in greater detail.
The researchers measured the vertical distribution of marine organisms, such as plankton, crustaceans and fish, in the water using routine underwater acoustic observation techniques along the Peruvian coast.
The measurements, made with the help of echo sounders, allowed them to determine the oxycline, which delimits the top of the OMZ, with high precision.
Combining the data obtained in this way with regular hydrological measurements, they managed to compile high-resolution maps that are 50,000 to 100,000 times more precise than common hydrological profiles.
As well as shedding new light on the state and spread of OMZs, the scientists were also able to calculate precisely the size of the habitat available to the Peruvian anchovy, for instance, providing information that might be of interest for fisheries management.
(IRD also uses this information to estimate the habitable volume for the world's most exploited fish, the Peruvian anchovy)
'This method ... allows performing integrated studies since acoustic data provides information on most ecosystem components [...], to which we can add ancillary information (satellite data, vessel monitoring system, top predator tagging...),"
Such integrated approaches are crucial to implement the ecosystem approach to fisheries.
"Our methodology can also be applied to other ecosystems, e.g. oceanic dead zones, and opens new perspectives for comprehensive multiscale studies on the impact of physical forcing on organisms."
OMZs are a naturally occurring phenomenon, found at depths of about 100 to 1,000 metres. They are home to numerous organisms that are specially adapted to the low-oxygen environment, including not only anaerobic bacteria but also larger organisms such as vampire squid. Oxygen-loving organisms, however, cannot survive in these zones.
OMZs currently cover about 10% of the planet's surface.
But they have been spreading for the past 50 years due to global warming and humankind's impact on the seas through rising levels of chemical nutrients (eutrophication), for example.
This opportunistic method could be implemented on any vessel geared with multi-frequency echosounders to perform comprehensive high-resolution monitoring of the upper limit of the OMZ.
IRD's approach is a novel way of studying the impact of physical processes on marine life and extracting valid information about the pelagic habitat and its spatial structure, a crucial aspect of Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management in the current context of climate change.
The findings open up new perspectives for the study of the oceans as well as the management of fisheries resources.
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The End of the Line, is the world's first major feature documentary about the devastating impact overfishing has had and is having on our oceans. The film provides a dramatic expose of those in power who are taking advantage of the seas with catastrophic consequences on the world's fish supplies.
We see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. The film examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish, which would bring certain mass starvation and unemployment.
Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans.
One of his allies is the former tuna farmer turned whistleblower Roberto Mielgo – on the trail of those destroying the world's magnificent bluefin tuna population.
Filmed across the world – from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market – featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials, The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.
With many species on the brink of extinction and mind-blowing evidence that the world may very soon face a future with very few fish, there has never been a more pressing need to bring this issue to the fore. The end of the line shows that we can all enjoy fish, but encourages viewers to think more carefully about where their fish is coming from.
Links :
- BBC News : the bitter battle over bluefin tuna
- ScienceDaily : fishing fleet working 17 times harder than in 1880s to make same catch
- Mauritania on Saturday (May 1st) launched a two-month ban on industrial fishing, FIS reported. The interruption will reportedly allow endangered fish to reproduce. The biological shutdown affects some 300 vessels operating in Mauritanian waters.
NASA will send two astronauts, a veteran undersea engineer and an experienced scientist into the ocean depths off Florida's east coast this month to test exploration concepts and learn more about working in an unforgiving, treacherous environment.
The 14th expedition of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO 14, begins May 10.
Canadian Space Agency astronaut and veteran spacewalker Chris Hadfield will lead the NASA team on a 14-day undersea mission aboard the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory.
Take a virtual tour to learn more about the NOAA, Aquarius Underwater Laboratory: America's "Inner Space" Station.
Aquarius is the only undersea laboratory dedicated to marine science operating in the world.
Owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and managed by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), Aquarius operates 4.5 kilometers offshore of Key Largo, Florida 20 meters beneath the surface.
Aquarius Underwater Laboratory is marked with a yellow life support buoy that is 30' in diameter. The depth of the water where it sits is 63'. The reef wall outside the lab drops off to 160'-180'. There are yellow Sanctuary Preservation Area research only buoys that mark the site. It’s located 5 miles southeast of Tavernier at Conch Reef.
Location on the Marine GeoGarage (24°57.010' N/80°27.130' W)
During NEEMO 14, the ocean floor will simulate aspects of another planet's surface and a low-gravity environment. In October 2009, a team of aquanauts set the stage for NEEMO 14 by placing mockups near Aquarius of a lander, rover and small crane that simulates a robotic arm.
The NEEMO 14 crew will live aboard the underwater laboratory, venture out on simulated spacewalks, operate the crane and maneuver the vehicles much like explorers would in setting up a habitat on another planet. As the aquanauts interact with these developing technologies, they will provide information and feedback to NASA engineers.
The crew will simulate removing a mockup of the Lunar Electric Rover from the lander, retrieve small payloads from the lander and the ocean floor, and simulate the transfer of an incapacitated astronaut from the ocean floor to the deck of the craft. The rover and lander mockups are similar in size to vehicles NASA is considering for future planetary exploration.
While inside Aquarius, the crew will perform life science experiments focused on human behavior, performance and physiology. The mission also includes a study of autonomous crew work. There will be periods when there is limited communication between the crew and the mission control center, much like what could happen during missions to the moon or Mars.
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Air France A330 flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappeared in the Atlantic on 1 June 2009 in stormy weather, killing in the crash all those on board (228 people).
The flight recorders from AF447 have been located to within a 5km zone, a French official has said. But Gen Christian Baptiste told AFP that retrieving the boxes from the ocean floor might be impossible.
The cause remains unknown. The plane's airspeed probes had given false readings, but officials believe other factors must also have contributed.
Finding the boxes, which record flight data and cockpit conversations, should allow investigators to finally explain the mystery of why the plane came down.
It appears the location zone has been traced using images obtained during the first phase of searching for the wreckage, when the flight recorders were still emitting a signal. A French submarine, the Emeraude, picked up signals at the time that have since been re-analyzed and that researchers determined were pings from the black boxes, the official said.
New software improvements from Thales allowed by a better sounds analysis to define a more precise wreck location.
French government and military officials have urged caution, saying there is no guarantee the flight recorders will be found.
"It's like trying to find a shoe box in an area the size of Paris, at a depth of 3,000m (9,800ft) and in a terrain as rugged as the Alps," French navy spokesman Hugues du Plessis d'Argentre told AFP.
The two recorders would be in a new area located at 20 NM (S-SW) from the last known position and could be distant one from the other by 3 to 8 km.
A fresh search was launched earlier this year involving US and Norwegian ships with sonar probes and robots (2x Remus 6000 AUV from WHOI +1x Triton ROV + 1x IFM-Geomar glider), in what officials described as "one of the most complex undersea operations ever".
The area covered by the high-tech vessels ("Seabed Worker" & "Anne Candies") will now be reduced from 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) to just 3-5 sq km (1-2 sq miles), in a remote area far off the coast of Brazil, NW of Arquipelago Sao Pedro e Sao Paulo (carta 10/int.216).
Location on the Marine GeoGarage (DHN carta 10 'Costa Nordeste da America do Sul')
Paul-Henry Nargeolet, BEA's maritime coordinator is the deep-dive explorer (previously Ifremer Nautile bathyscaph pilot) who has led several expeditions to the Titanic Wreck.
"They are currently aimed at covering the peripheral areas of the initial search zone and at clearing up remaining doubts," says the BEA.These areas include a region adjacent to the initial zone, to the northwest of AF447's last known position, as well as a region within the initial zone which consists of rough terrain. The search will be completed around 25 May.
See Radio Nav Warning #0102/10 issued by Brazilian Navy with area interdicted to navigation
This continuation of phase 3 will be done with fewer ships and equipment.
The U.S Navy’s ROV’s and sonar, will now be unavailable because they are being mobilized for a military operation. Also, one of the AUV (belonging to Geomar), will not be available for this continuation phase.
The search will be continued with the Norwegian ship the Seabed Worker, and two AUVs.
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