oceanlove

Exploring shallow lagoons with USV mapping technology   Autonomous and uncrewed mapping of the unique ecosystem of Gialova Lagoon By   George Papatheodorou ,  Maria Geraga ,  Elias Fakiris ,  Maria Papakonstantinou ,  Nikos Mavrommatis   •   June 20, 2023 Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are increasingly being used for the mapping and management of shallow-water environments such as lagoons, rivers and estuaries, due to their economic and ecological benefits. The Gialova Lagoon wetland in south-west Peloponnesus, Greece, is particularly difficult to navigate using crewed vessels and was therefore studied using a USV to identify the bathymetry, morphology and submerged aquatic vegetation coverage of the lagoon’s floor. The USV platform was equipped with various devices, including sidescan sonars, single- and multibeam echosounders, environmental sensors and waterproof cameras. The USV successfully navigated the shallow waters of the lagoon and a gr...

Unraveling the environmental impact of North Sea shipwrecks   The haunting presence of shipwrecks such as the   John Mahn   in the North Sea offers glimpses into our history. These maritime time capsules, while fostering vibrant ecosystems, raise concerns about pollution and leakage. However, thanks to the groundbreaking North Sea Wrecks project, the hidden dangers and self-cleaning properties of these enigmatic relics are being uncovered. Are we truly facing a toxic war legacy, or are our worries unfounded?  Testerep , a magazine of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), embarked on an investigative journey to shed light on this. There are approximately 290 shipwrecks in the Belgian part of the North Sea alone, and more than 1,000 in the entire North Sea. These wrecks, remnants of the world wars, have long been a mystery in terms of their environmental impact and potential for toxic substance release. However, the North Sea Wrecks project aimed to change that, and re...

New software enables AI-powered bathymetric data processing  Hydroacoustic technology specialist GeoAcoustics has officially released GS4 software v1.0.25 for GeoSwath bathymetric sonars, adding several upgrades including an artificial intelligence data processing system developed in collaboration with the University of East Anglia. The new AI processing augments the existing automated filtering in the GS4 software by removing surplus and undesired data autonomously; during acquisition, the system is designed to log clean data, without any user intervention in the cleaning process, enabling better operational agility and decision support while cutting the time to final data in post-processing. Real-time processing The processing happens in real time, so users only need to oversee data quality and coverage during acquisition, while at the post-processing stage the focus can be purely on georeferencing the bathymetric data using deterministic calculations. The final, noise free and h...