91制片厂

Each year, ocean mappers from across the globe spend a year at 91制片厂 learning the latest ocean mapping techniques from the experts at 91制片厂鈥檚 , bringing their training back to their native countries.

Now, nine of those well-trained hydrographers, led by CCOM鈥檚 Rochelle Wigley (herself an alumna of the training program), are putting their 91制片厂 education to work for a run at the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE that aims to spur solutions for mapping the entire seafloor by 2030.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting,鈥� says Wigley, who directs 91制片厂鈥檚 (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) Ocean Bathymetry training program. 鈥淏ut most of the time I鈥檓 completely terrified because I鈥檓 overwhelmed at what we are trying to do.鈥�

The is one of 19 semifinalist teams in the running for the $7 million Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, a global competition that challenges teams to advance technologies for rapid, unmanned and high-resolution ocean exploration and discovery. The success of the competition will further the goal of mapping the entire ocean floor.

Boosted by a $3 million grant from the Nippon Foundation, the GEBCO-NF Alumni team is designing a new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) called SEA-KIT to pair with existing autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology to autonomously map the seafloor for longer time periods and over wider ranges and environments.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 really novel about our idea is that we鈥檙e using largely off-the-shelf existing technology in conjunction with our new surface vessel,鈥� says Wigley, adding that the market for unmanned technology is growing exponentially.听鈥淣early everyone who鈥檚 seen our design is excited by the innovative concept.鈥�

Controlled from shore, the unmanned 11-meter SEA-KIT will travel to the test site offshore, where it will then deploy and retrieve the 1.2 ton Kongsberg Maritime HUGIN AUV, which is owned by Ocean Floor Geophysics. That device 鈥渟wims鈥� about 40 meters above the seafloor and uses interferometric side scan sonar to produce an image of the seafloor that Wigley describes as a 鈥減hotograph draped over the surface.鈥�

Meet a Researcher

Watch

鈥淚t鈥檚 visually easy to understand,鈥� she says, and that鈥檚 important. 鈥淧art of what XPRIZE wants is data that excites, and I think that excites more. The general public has a better understanding of photo images.鈥�

Go-time for the team comes this fall, when the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE administrators will assign them one week to conduct听sea trials of their technology. They鈥檒l then have 16 hours at sea to gather data and an additional two days to prepare their presentation, utilizing tools developed with Teledyne CARIS software

The Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE challenge has served as a reunion and alumni association of sorts for the team members, who hail from eight countries (Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, South Africa, USA,听and the Philippines) and all hold positions in their own nations鈥� maritime industries. Since its inception, 91制片厂鈥檚 GEBCO program has graduated 78 scholars total, the vast majority of whom are working in the marine industry.

鈥淭his is a real indication of how strong the education is here at 91制片厂,鈥� says Wigley. 鈥淲ithout the education we got here, none of us would have had the ability to do this, and to think that we could do this.鈥�