Nippon Foundation wants to map entire Ocean Floor by 2030

The ocean seabed is yet to be mapped in detail – but this might soon change (Image: GEBCO)

From Maritime Executive

The Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa, has announced that The Nippon Foundation – GEBCO Seabed 2030 project to map the bathymetry of the world’s entire ocean floor by 2030 has started.
The Nippon Foundation has pledged $2 million per year as seed money – and is calling on the resources of the international maritime community for additional support.

A concept paper for the project highlights that the vast majority of the world ocean has not been sampled by echo sounders even at a resolution of about 30 arc seconds.
Considering that many of the approximately one kilometer grid cells only have a single sounding in them, the percentage of the seafloor that has actually been measured by echo-sounders is considerably less than 18 percent.

Satellite altimetry-derived bathymetry has represented an advancement, providing global coverage of general estimates of depths.
However, it is far less precise than echo sounder-derived data and has far less resolution than modern multi-beam sonars.

Understanding the bathymetry (seabed depth) of the global ocean is imperative, not only for improving maritime navigation, but also for enhancing our ability to predict climate change and monitor marine biodiversity and resources, says Sasakawa.
The project will make a significant contribution to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal 14: to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
A comprehensive map of the seafloor will assist global efforts to combat pollution, aid marine conservation, forecast tsunami wave propagation, and help inform the study of tides, wave action, and sediment transport.

The need for bathymetric data was also highlighted by the disappearance in March 2014 of Malaysian Airlines flight, MH370.

tracklines

 worldwide tracklines

Since its launch, the project has made rapid progress, drawing on the experience of some 28 international organizations around the world.
The project’s structure is based on a roadmap produced by an establishment team of leading ocean mapping experts.

Sea floor mapping in search for missing flight MH370 released

“The Nippon Foundation alone cannot achieve the objectives of this ambitious project,” said Sasakawa.
“We will need the support of a large number of stakeholders, including world-leading technical experts.
It is crucially important that the maritime community comes together to achieve this important goal.”

As shallow seas lie mostly in the territorial waters of coastal states and much of the responsibility for mapping these waters will rest with local hydrographic agencies, most of the effort of the Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project will be focused on the 93 percent of the world’s oceans that is deeper than 200 meters and often beyond the jurisdiction of local hydrographic agencies.
For the other seven percent, the project will work closely with local hydrographic agencies to obtain shallow water data wherever possible.

Four Regional Centers have been set up, each with responsibility for a region of the world’s ocean, with a Global Center to produce the global map.
The Regional Centers are based at The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany, covering the Southern Ocean; The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington, New Zealand, covering the South and West Pacific Ocean; The Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, U.S., covering the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; and Stockholm University, Sweden, in partnership with the University of New Hampshire, U.S., for the North Pacific and Arctic Ocean.
The Global Center, which is responsible for centralized data management and products, is based at the U.K. National Oceanography Center, Southampton.


The Regional Centers will identify existing data from their assigned regions that are not currently in publicly available databases and seek to make these data available.
They will develop protocols for data collection and common software and other tools to assemble and attribute appropriate metadata as they assimilate regional grids using standardized techniques.

GEBCO bathymetry

(cortesy of OMG)

The Global Center will integrate the regional grids into a global grid and distribute to users world-wide.
It will also act as the central focal point for the coordination of common data standards and processing tools.

The project will encourage and help coordinate and track new survey efforts and facilitate the development of new technologies that can increase the efficiency of seafloor mapping.

GEBCO-NF Alumni team completes XPRIZE testing phase

Satinder Bindra has been appointed leader of the international project team and brings a wealth of experience to the project, having previously worked for the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and UN Environment, where he promoted key environmental initiatives and sustainable development.
Bindra said: “This is a challenging opportunity to build a global common good and do something meaningful for our future generations.
The scale and scope of the project is such that we will have to work with international organizations, universities, civil society, the private sector, maritime industries -including fishing and shipping, youth organizations and citizens from every corner of the world.
As we strengthen our cooperation, we will deepen our understanding of the oceans and enhance our ability to map the remaining 85 percent of the ocean floor much faster than ever before.’’

Links :

• Hydro : Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project / New Technology to Assist in Mapping the Ocean Floor
• NextBigFuture : Roadmap for Future Ocean Floor Mapping
• Futurism : Schools of Robots Are Mapping the Unknown Features of the Deep Sea
• NOAA : Seabed 2030 : Map the gaps 
• EarthIsland : Deep impact : mapping the ocean floor could put undersea creatures at risk
• GeoGarage blog : Why the first complete map of the ocean floor is stirring controversial / Here are the teams competing to map the ocean for ... / Ocean floor to be mapped by 2030 ? / It's time to geek out over a new global bathymetric ... / The floor of the ocean comes into better focus / If the ocean was transparent : the see-through sea / How one brilliant woman mapped the ocean floor's ... / The great challenge of mapping the sea / Marie Tharp: the woman who mapped the ocean floor / X Prize to map 4,000m-deep ocean floor with robots / Scientists to survey uncharted seafloor area / MH370 spur to 'better ocean mapping' / MH370 search data unveils fishing hot spots ...
  

First ship crosses Arctic in winter without an icebreaker as global warming causes ice sheets to melt

 Soon after delivery, Eduard Toll (Icebreaker LNG Carrier) made its way to complete both its first loading at Sabetta Terminal Russia and first discharge in Montoir, France.

This marked a major milestone for shipping in the arctic as this was the first time a shipping vessel made independent passage, without the support of an ice breaker, during this time of year.

The team onboard captured a timelapse of their voyage showing the start of the Northern Sea Route transit. 

 From The Independant by Josh Gabbatiss

Crossing of polar region is becoming easier due to warming global temperatures and thinning sea ice

The tanker, containing liquefied natural gas, is the first commercial vessel to make such a crossing alone during the winter months.
The voyage is a significant moment in the story of climate change in the Arctic and will be seized on by those with concerns about thinning polar ice and its implications for the environment.

 The Eduard Toll is named after a Russian geologist and explorer

(Picture: Teekay)

Belonging to the shipping company Teekay, the ship Eduard Toll made its way from South Korea to the Sabetta terminal in northern Russia in December.
From there, it sailed to Montoir in France to deliver a load of liquefied natural gas.

A similar vessel made the same crossing in August last year, but this is the first time it has been completed when the temperatures are at their coldest.
“The people and passion one needs for an ice passage like this cannot be underestimated,” Teekay gas group’s president and chief executive, Mark Kremin, told TradeWinds.

As global warming leads to melting Arctic ice, areas of the northern oceans are becoming accessible to vessels for the first time.

Shipping companies have been investing in ships that are able to break through thinning polar ice, as the northern sea route is considerably shorter for many trade links between Europe and Asia.
Teekay is investing in six ships to travel to its liquefied natural gas project in Yamal, northern Russia.

One study suggested European routes to Asia will become 10 days faster via the Arctic than alternatives by the middle of the century, and 13 days faster by the end.
“The reduction in summer sea ice, perhaps the most striking sign of climate change, may also provide economic opportunities,” Dr Nathanael Melia, one of the authors of that study, said at the time.
“There is renewed interest in trans-Arctic shipping because of potentially reduced costs and journey times between Asia and the Atlantic.”

However, environmentalists and scientists have expressed concerns over the opening of the northern route and exploitation of polar resources.
In December, the EU and nine of the world’s major fishing nations announced an agreement to ban fishing in the Arctic Ocean for the next 16 years.
This was welcomed by environmentalists and scientists who pointed out the fragility of polar ecosystems, and the need to preserve them instead of merely exploiting resources made newly available my melting sea ice.

But even non-fishing vessels can cause damage to the Arctic due to the pollution they emit into a largely pristine environment.
As for the opening of trade routes, environmentalists have noted the irony in the rapidly warming Arctic seas being used as a highway for fossil fuel transport.
“The Arctic has already exceeded the Paris agreement’s aspiration of limiting warming to 1.5C, and the agreed target of 2C. In some areas it has warmed by 4C,” said Sarah North, senior oil strategist for Greenpeace International.
“Inevitably, this has caused massive changes, with most of the Arctic ice having already disappeared. And so now, ironically, we can deliver fossil fuels more quickly. It’s like a heavy smoker using his tracheotomy to smoke two cigarettes at once.”

Links :

• Climate Home News : Shipping first as LNG tanker crosses Arctic in winter without icebreaker escort
• Mashable : A tanker loaded with gas needed no help barreling through feeble Arctic sea ice
• BBC news : China to develop Arctic shipping routes opened by global warming
• The Straits Times : China's polar ambitions cause anxiety
• Asia Times : Arctic sea routes could ease Malacca Strait security issue
• GeoGarage blog :China wants to build a “Polar Silk Road” in the Arctic / New sailing routes for future container mega-ships / Russian tanker sails through Arctic without ... / As Arctic ice vanishes, new shipping routes open / Arctic shipping passage 'still decades away' / Arctic passage / Putin makes his first move in race to control the Arctic / SCF Baltica tanker completed the Northern Sea Route / Arctic Ocean: history and now / Oblique icebreaker gives better access to Arctic waters / Gas tanker Ob River attempts first winter Arctic ... / Arctic mapping to make navigating Northwest ... / Ships to sail directly over the north pole by 2050 ...
   

Ocean science research is key for a sustainable future

Human–ocean interactions highlighting ocean ecosystem services and their threads

(taken from Ocean Atlas, 2017)

From Nature by Martin Visbeck

Human activity has already affected all parts of the ocean, with pollution increasing and fish-stocks plummeting.
The UN’s recent announcement of a Decade of Ocean Science provides a glimmer of hope, but scientists will need to work closely with decision-makers and society at large to get the ocean back on track.
The ocean covers 71% of the Earth’s surface.
It regulates our climate and holds vast and in some cases untouched resources.
It provides us with basics such as food, materials, energy, and transportation, and we also enjoy the seascape for religious or recreational practices.

Today, more than 40% of the global population lives in areas within 200 km of the ocean and 12 out of 15 mega cities are coastal.
Doubling of the world population over the last 50 years, rapid industrial development, and growing human affluence are exerting increasing pressure on the ocean.
Climate change, non-sustainable resource extraction, land-based pollution, and habitat degradation are threatening the productivity and health of the ocean.

In the Deep is a new Quartz series on the wonders of our oceans

and the intrepid scientists seeking to understand them.

It is in this context that over the last few years, scientists and societal actors have organized a bottom-up movement, which has ultimately led to the United Nations General Assembly proclaiming a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030).
In the process, governments, industry, and scientists have raised awareness of the rapid degradation and over-use of the ocean.
The final document from the Rio+20 summit, The future we want, made extensive reference to the ocean, and the Global Ocean Commission articulated the need for more effective global ocean policies.
Moreover, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes an explicit ocean goal (SDG14) that led to the first-ever UN Ocean conference to support its implementation.
The ambition of the Decade of Ocean Science is to now use this gathering momentum to mobilize the scientific community, policy-makers, business, and civil society around a program of joint research and technological innovation.

 Increased need for ocean information to meet societal needs.

Meeting a growing range of societal demands and achieving Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources) from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can only be fully realized if all elements of the ocean value chain are resourced adequately and more integrated science agendas are advanced.

Sustainable Development Goal logo ©UNITED NATIONS.

All rights reserved

I see reasons for optimism in four main areas.

First, there is a tremendous opportunity to connect ocean sciences more directly with societal actors by promoting integrated ocean observation and solution-oriented research agendas.
Also, rich and poor nations are increasingly engaging in capacity development and resource sharing.
And finally, the UN system and coastal states have a unique chance to seriously collaborate in multi-stakeholder processes to advance maritime spatial planning and effective ocean governance.

A more integrated and sustainable ocean observing system The Decade of Ocean Science will encourage actions towards a more integrated and sustainable ocean observing system to facilitate ocean discovery and environmental monitoring.
The vast volume of the ocean and its complex coastlines are neither fully observed nor adequately understood.
In particular the deep sea is a frontier of ocean sciences, where internationally coordinated research teams regularly discover new ocean phenomena of profound importance or new organisms and substances for potential future use.
Sustained and systematic ocean observations are needed to document ocean change, initialize ocean system models and provide critical information for improved ocean understanding.

Advances in ocean robotics and the combination of remote and in situ ocean observations offer new opportunities; and free and open data sharing and multi-stakeholder contributions by governments (rich and poor), the private sector and citizens are opening exciting new dimensions.
International efforts, such as the Global Ocean Observing System, the Blue Planet initiative of the Group on Earth Observations and their Framework for Ocean Observing provide a solid basis and an opportunity for growth.
The upcoming decadal conference on ocean observations, OceanObs 19 will provide an excellent opportunity to advance our ocean observing ambitions.

Ocean Networks Canada

A solution-oriented integrated ocean science agenda

The Decade of Ocean Science should address both deep disciplinary understanding of ocean processes and solution-oriented research to generate new knowledge.
This will support societal actors in reducing ocean pressures, preserving and restoring ocean ecosystems and so safeguard ocean-related prosperity for generations to come.
A solution-oriented integrated ocean science agenda can provide innovative ideas, improved assessments and fundamental knowledge in the context of sustainable development and improving human–ocean interactions.
Our rapidly growing, affluent, and more technologically advanced societies are increasingly impacting their local and the global environment, leading to pollution by both chemical and physical wastes.

Integrated research is needed to assess the human and environmental risks of ongoing and future types of ocean pollution, to generate new ideas to reduce the ocean pressures by promoting recycling, improved waste management and incentive and governance regimes to encourage more sustainable production and consumption.

The most challenging ocean pollutants include: atmospheric carbon dioxide, which causes climate change, ocean warming, ocean acidification, and sea level rise; agricultural fertilizers, which lead to increased primary production but result in ocean deoxygenation; untreated waste water; invasive species; micro and macro plastics, the exponential increase of which has an environmental impact as yet only partially known.
Ocean hazards such as storm surges, harmful algal blooms, or coastline erosion can be devastating for coastal communities.

Throughout human evolution civilization has developed strategies to increase our resilience to threats from the ocean.
However, the rush for coastal recreation and access to the sea has produced newly built infrastructure that is increasingly vulnerable to ocean extreme events.
Hard solutions, such as building walls and levees, could provide some mitigation.
However, softer approaches, such as beach nourishment, restoration of mangroves and reef systems, would also provide natural protection and increase resilience to sea-level rise and storm surges.
Marine protected areas, natural coastal defences, mining codes, or regulations to limit ocean pollution are all critical elements to safeguard ocean resilience.

Humans have always benefitted from the ocean and its diverse ecosystem services.
We often speak of a healthy and productive ocean referring to the desire to maintain the ocean in a prosperous state.
The ocean provides food for many, often poor, coastal communities; provides jobs, energy, and raw materials; and enables global trade and recreational and cultural services.
The sustainability challenge is achieving long-term ocean prosperity for more affluent societies with a global population approaching 10 billion.

Is there sufficient intergenerational will to sustain the overall long-term wealth and well-being of humans by safeguarding ocean resources and ecosystem productivity?
What are the trade-offs and synergies between different strategies of marine food production and wild harvesting, different forms of energy harvesting and extraction of materials and ocean restoring zones?
New research should develop and flesh out sustainable blue-green growth agendas and link it to efforts in ecosystem protection.
The Decade of Ocean Science should develop a new ocean narrative that can provide context and motivation to reduce ocean pressures, increase ocean resilience, and promote ocean prosperity for generations to come.

At the same time, it can provide visibility to existing and new international ocean science programs, such as the new Future Earth Ocean Knowledge–Action network that aims to connect academic and practical knowledge to address the pressing issues of ocean sustainability using the concept of co-design, co-production, and co-dissemination of ocean sustainability knowledge.

Global Ocean Science 

Toward an Integrated Approach (1999)

Global capacity building

The success of the Decade of Ocean Science will critically depend on global capacity building and resource-sharing between countries at different levels of wealth and development.
The enormous need for more ocean information at the scientific, governmental, private sector, and public levels demands a step-change in ocean education at all levels.
New technology to improve ocean observation, more sustainable ocean resource extraction, and the digital revolution are transforming the ocean sciences and information communities.

How can we harness this opportunity?
Perhaps new curricula at universities can provide the opportunity to engage a wide range of disciplines in the area of ocean sustainability.
Global learning formats such as massive open online courses, open access to ocean information and increased interactions between the academic and societal actor communities are all promising activities.
In addition, partnerships between academic and civil society organizations can produce free ocean literacy material, such as the Ocean-Atlas or the World Ocean Review.
However, more engagement at the primary and secondary school levels is urgently needed to promote ocean literacy.
Training courses and exchange programs between south–south and north–south ocean actors, as well as courses for ocean professionals, hold tremendous potential to raise ocean awareness and promote better solutions.

 Sea Change

Effective ocean governance

Finally, the Decade of Ocean Science, in conjunction with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international and regional ocean agendas, has shown the need for societal actors to reflect on effective ocean governance.
From a regulatory perspective, coastal states can benefit from a systematic, multi-stakeholder assessment and spatial planning procedure.
In many parts of the world, each cubic meter of ocean is expected to support several, often conflicting, demands.
Spatial planning procedures that take the demands of neighboring countries and the global ocean system into account can help to find more sustainable and equitable regimes of ocean use and access.
Science can help in this effort by reflecting on a range of human development scenarios and evaluating how best to sustain ocean prosperity while respecting planetary and ocean boundaries.
A good example of this is the ocean scenario team that is scoping out development pathways to reach SDG14 and ocean-related goals by 2050 in the context of The World In 2050 project (TWI2050).

The increased awareness of the importance of the ocean to the future of humanity give grounds for cautious optimism and motivation for ambitious multilateral cooperation.
The scientific community has been given a stage on which to shine during the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Let us come together, respect our disciplines and agendas but also be ready to embark on an exciting and transformative journey to realize the ocean we need for the future we want.

Links :

• Xinhua : China to establish ocean science research center
• DAL : 10 reasons to be excited about ocean research

The Mercy review – high seas and crushed dreams

Following his Academy Award® nominated film The Theory of Everything, James Marsh directs the incredible true story of Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth), an amateur sailor who competed in the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in the hope of becoming the first person in history to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe without stopping.

With an unfinished boat and his business and house on the line, Donald leaves his wife, Clare (Rachel Weisz) and their children behind, hesitantly embarking on an adventure on his boat the Teignmouth Electron.

The story of Crowhurst's dangerous solo voyage and the struggles he confronted on the epic journey while his wife Clare and their family awaited his return is one of the most enduring mysteries of recent times.

From The Guardian by

The somewhat dispiriting real-life story of Donald Crowhurst, the amateur sailor who in 1968-9 lost his pride, his mind and then his life in a single-handed yacht race to circumnavigate the world, has long exerted a fascination for film-makers.

Nicolas Roeg once tried to film the story.
In 2006, the documentary Deep Water explored the tragedy.
And this big-budget take on the tale, buoyed up by the star power of Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, was made at the same time as a smaller rival project, Crowhurst by Simon Rumley.

 Deep Water is a documentary film, directed by Jerry Rothwell and Louise Osmond, produced by Jonny Persey.

It is based on the true story of Donald Crowhurst and the 1969 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race round the world alone in a yacht. 

'"We are all human beings and we all have dreams."

Deep Water, beautifully narrated by Tilda Swinton, is a moving and totally absorbing account of one man who gets in over his head both physically and morally.

The small boat becomes a microcosm for life where a person has to find their own rules.

Crowhurst's journey is not the journey of Sunday Times heroes, but of a man.

His dilemma is dangerously easy to identify with.

This is an incredibly moving story - if you don't already know the historical details, do see the film first.

One can see the attraction of the story to director James Marsh: Crowhurst (Firth) has a similar maverick eccentricity and forceful self-belief to that of high-wire walker Philippe Petit, the subject of his documentary Man on Wire.
But for all its technical prowess – the sound design, all groaning metal and hectoring waves, is particularly effective – this account of inexorably crushed dreams is kind of a downer.

Unlike the steely resilience in the face of disaster of Robert Redford’s character in All Is Lost, watching Crowhurst slowly crack is the cinema equivalent of filling your pockets with pebbles and chucking yourself into the Solent.

 Links : 

• The Telegraph :  The Mercy

Image of the week : bloom in Antarctica

A bloom of microscopic plant life and icebergs can be seen off of Antarctica's Mawson Coast 
(Mawson Station Antarctica).

The Landsat 8 data was collected on 9 February 2018. 

Courtesy of NASA Ocean

  localization of the Mawson Station with the GeoGarage platform (AHS chart)