Scientists to survey uncharted seafloor area

Scientists to survey uncharted seafloor area

From GNS Science

Scientists set off today on a 21-day voyage to map a previously uncharted section of the Colville Ridge, a large and mountainous seafloor structure about 500km northeast of Auckland.

More than half of the Colville Ridge, which covers an estimated 100,000km2, sits within New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone yet until the last few years very little was known about it.

Being undertaken by GNS Science, the voyage will take place on NIWA’s deepwater research ship Tangaroa as part of a long-term programme to survey regions within New Zealand’s offshore territory.

Scientists will use the ‘holy trinity’ of seafloor mapping techniques – sonar mapping, as well as measurements of gravity and magnetism, supplemented by seafloor rock sampling.
These techniques complement each other and are considered essential to obtaining meaningful information about the seafloor and its underlying geological structures.

 Colville Ridge with the GeoGarage platform (NZ Linz nautical chart)

The mission builds on two earlier voyages, in 2013 and 2015, that mapped southern parts of the Colville Ridge totalling 40,000km2.
The maps produced during these voyages show a vast mountainous ridge dotted with extinct volcanic cones and peaks rising 1.5km above the surrounding seafloor.
Co-chief scientist on the voyage, Fabio Caratori Tontini, said the crew was looking forward to discovering the submarine landscape of the northern part of the ridge.

The voyage will produce the first comprehensive, high-definition seafloor map, geophysical data sets and rock samples along the northern section.
The information will provide new knowledge and understanding about the region’s ancient volcanism.

 A large area of seafloor east of Auckland has thrown up a few surprises for scientists.
Little was known about the submerged Colville Ridge until two weeks ago when 17,500 square kilometres of it was mapped in detail for the first time by a research ship.
That is an area equivalent in size to Auckland and Northland combined, or just over half the size of Belgium, or about the same size as Kuwait or Swaziland.

It is cut by large faults and has volcanic cones sitting atop of the ridge.

From the bottom of its valleys to the top of its peaks measures about 2km...

source : (GNS Science, 2013)

The Colville Ridge is millions of years old and represents a key piece to better understand the geological puzzle of the region, which includes determining the role of plate tectonics in shaping the ocean floor in the northern part of our EEZ.

Christian Timm, the other co-chief scientist on the expedition, said that understanding the formation of the Colville Ridge would give scientists valuable information to improve the understanding of the tectonic evolution of New Zealand’s vast underwater estate.
“Together with the data from the two previous expeditions, we will have acquired new maps covering about 60,000km2 of ocean floor, which is equivalent to the size of Ireland or half of New Zealand’s North Island,” Dr Timm said.
“These surveys will allow us to strip away the seawater and view New Zealand’s stunning underwater landscape in 3D. The new data will provide a framework for future studies that will include the deployment of underwater craft such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to explore the seafloor in more detail,” he said.

The older Colville Ridge and neighbouring Kermadec Ridge have formed as a result of subduction of the Pacific tectonic plate underneath the Australian plate.
Both ridges stretch northeast from New Zealand towards Fiji and Tonga respectively.

There are four or five major ridge features in New Zealand’s offshore territory and the Colville Ridge is arguably the least known of them.

The voyage draws on Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment funding for the Tangaroa, while funding from GNS Science covers equipment and scientific staff on the vessel.

Links :

• GeoGarage blog :  Ocean floor to be mapped by 2030 ? / Sophisticated unmanned submarines investigate two seafloor volcanoes /The floor of the ocean comes into better focus /New map reveals New Zealand's seafloor in stunning detail / Kiwi scientists uncover stunning underwater insights / NIWA survey reveals deep water canyons off Otago coast (NZ)
• NZ Herald : Sea floor map result stuns experts 

Canada CHS update in the GeoGarage platform

1 nautical raster chart added + 67 updated

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Satellite industry is all at sea

Inmarsat launches search for its next generation of 'space pioneers'

Photo : the heroic story of the Mercury Seven, the pioneer astronauts who risked their lives for America’s first manned space voyages.
(Project Mercury ran from 1959 through 1963, put the first American in space, and defined NASA’s manned space flights to come, from Gemini through Apollo.)

From Bloomberg by Leila Abboud

Satellite operator Inmarsat was founded 40 years ago to let ships communicate with land so rescuers could aid sailors.
The maritime business, which still provides half of sales and operating profit, set it apart from rivals who were focused on broadcasting and broadband.
As a result, the British company had lower margins than peers but was insulated from the competition and macro-economic storms that buffeted others.
Now, amid the tumult of a capacity glut in the sector, even Inmarsat is getting dragged under water.
Advances in high-throughput satellites are bringing more bandwidth online than ever.
This oversupply, which might triple capacity by 2020, will pressurize sales and margins for all the big satellite players.
Since Eutelsat issued a profit warning in May, investors have punished the sector.

 25th anniversary of our flagship maritime safety service, Inmarsat C – the only GMDSS-approved satellite system which, in 2015 alone, broadcast more than 600 distress alerts from vessels in urgent need.

That even Inmarsat, with its one-time maritime fortress, is getting hit shows how far the contagion has spread.
It also highlights a less understood change in the satellite business: how the capacity boom obliterates the once clear distinctions between the different satellite companies and the markets in which they operate.
Before, there was clear separation between fixed satellite service providers and mobile.
Inmarsat dominated the latter while SES, Eutelsat and Intelsat ruled in fixed.
Now, in the scramble to sell new capacity, the different players all encroach on each other's turf.
Plus the traditional satellite broadcasting business is under pressure from fiber and cable networks that carry TV signals quite well.

Blurred Lines

With its maritime focus, Inmarsat differs from other satellite companies, but differences between them are blurring

Avanti figures reflect FYE 2015 recurring revenue, excluding the sale of spectrum.

Put it together, and you've got unprecedented change in a once dull sector.
Barclays' analysts predict a 2-3 percent drag on industry revenues for the next five years
Inmarsat's experience is instructive.
In addition to maritime, it serves governments and the military and supplies emergency cockpit communications.
But it faces competition in those areas from mobile upstarts such as Iridium as well as fixed satellite rivals Viasat and Intelsat.
The squeeze is on from both sides.
Inmarsat needs to offer faster broadband speeds to ships and planes, not the dial-up slow stuff it used to do.
That's why it committed to a series of new satellites called Global Express, which are entering service this year.
Inmarsat wants to use them to expand into new markets such as passenger jet Wi-Fi.
But it means higher capex, while revenues are less certain.
Of course, Inmarsat's competitors are suffering too.
Its growth outlook to 2018 is ahead of the pack.
The top five operators -- who control about 60 percent of sector revenue -- are all revisiting their business models. 

Choppy Waters

Inmarsat's traditional leadership in linking ships with satellite communications no longer insulates it from competition as much as it once did

And there may be a positive side to all this new capacity if the traditional suppliers have the imagination to use it to break into new markets, such as aircraft Wi-Fi, or use cheaper prices to expand in consumer broadband.
Yet it's all pretty murky predicting how this will shake out for a sector that's been used to relative stability, generous dividends and monster profit margins.
Inmarsat will have to get used to much choppier waters.

Links :

• Financial times : Trouble on the horizon for satellite industry 
• SpaceNews : Inmarsat launches search for its next generation of ‘space pioneers’
• GeoGarage blog : Inmarsat's maritime vision / Drone ships move closer to reality as Inmarsat gets on board / Inmarsat brings satellite communications to small vessels / These Terabit satellites will bring Internet to the remotest places on Earth
  

High-seas piracy hits a two-decade low

From The Economist by the Data team

PIRATES, the scourge of the high seas, were mostly kept at bay during the first half of 2016. According to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre, there were 98 attacks worldwide in the six months to July, the lowest figure in 21 years.
Indonesia’s waters remained the most pirate-infested in the world.
The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands suffered 21 attacks and three attempted attacks.
The waters along the coast of Somalia, once a piracy hotspot, have seen a dramatic decline in attacks since 2011. Piracy off Nigeria’s coast, meanwhile, has increased.

Suspected pirates wait for members of the counter-piracy operation to board their boat.

Photo: US Navy/Jason R Zalasky

The recent decline in global piracy can be attributed in part to better security on ships.
For years, the UN’s International Maritime Organisation discouraged boat owners from arming their crews.
Ships tried in vain to defend against heavily-armed pirates using little more than diligent watch-keeping and water cannons.
In the mid-2000s, facing rising insurance and ransom costs, shipping companies began employing private security contractors.
These firms are increasingly supplied by “floating armouries” to help evade laws that bar crews from bringing weapons into territorial waters.

Better policing of the high seas has also played a part. In 2008, following a spate of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, America, the European Union and NATO sent a flotilla of warships to patrol the coast of Somalia.
The large naval presence today deters all but the most ruthless buccaneers.
But “Operation Ocean Shield”, NATO’s counter piracy mission, is scheduled to end in December.
Perhaps it is time to batten down the hatches once again.

Links :

• ICC : Sea piracy drops to 21-year low, IMB reports / Sea piracy drops to 21-year low, IMB reports
• Safety4Seas : IMB: Sea piracy drops to 21-year low
• UN : Security Council urges stronger regional approach on eradicating piracy in Gulf of Guinea
• Policy forum : The true story of piracy in Asia
• GeoGarage blog : Pirates turn to hacking on the high-seas / Asian piracy soars amid global decline /The ungoverned seas / What drives maritime piracy in sub-Saharan Africa? / An unarmed approach to piracy / UKHO Admiralty Maritime Security Charts / Global piracy costs billions, says study / 2009 Worldwide piracy fugures surpass 400Global piracy hits lowest level since 2007, report says /

This mind-blowing infographic shows the incredible depth of the earth's oceans

People sometimes forget that oceans contain a lot more than the water you see just beneath the surface.

The depths below the ocean’s surface comprise a staggering 95% of the earth’s living space, and much of it is unexplored by humans.

To put into perspective just how deep the oceans go, Xkcd.com created this illustration (click the image for a larger version):

From BusinessInsider by Pamela Engel

As you can see, most of the ocean doesn’t even see sunlight.
Even scientists aren’t familiar with everything that’s down there.
In fact, getting to the deepest reaches of the ocean is so expensive that some people — like Oscar-winning director James Cameron — take it upon themselves to explore underwater spaces rarely visited by humans.
Cameron visited the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on earth at seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, in a minisubmarine in 2012.
He was only the second person to visit that area of the ocean.
He didn’t see any sea monsters, but he described the experience as out of this world.