Live Giant Squid Caught on Video for the First Time
During a dive near the Ogasawara Islands in the Pacific, scientists captured footage of a giant squid in its natural habitat—a first for this species whose previous sightings have been limited to beachings or being caught by fishermen.

To film the squid, the crew utilized two deep-sea submersibles with panoramic views, ultrasensitive camera systems with light invisible to squid, bioluminescent lures and squid attractants.

The Discovery Channel and Japanese broadcaster NHK captured imagery during a four-year project that included more than 285 hours in the abyss, 55 sub dives (some at depths greater than 3,000 feet) and a crew of scientists, including oceanographer and marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder, marine biologist Steve O'Shea and zoologist Dr. Tsunemi Kobodera of the National Science Museum of Japan.

The NHK crew has been studying and filming the underwater life in this region for more than 10 years in cooperation with Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science. Other previous attempts to capture footage of a live giant squid yielded the first-ever still photographs of a giant squid in 2004, and another giant squid was captured floating on the water surface in 2006.

The footage will air on the Discovery Channel in a program titled "Monster Squid: The Giant is Real," which premieres at 8 p.m. on January 27. NHK will also air their special this month.

Below is a video clip of the squid, as shown on U.S. News & World Report:

CARIS, EIVA Partner to Provide Survey Solution
CARIS (Fredericton, Canada) and EIVA a/s (Hasselager, Denmark) have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on providing offshore survey organizations with a solution that acquires and processes survey data through to managing and manipulating the data in an enterprise GIS environment, the companies announced on Tuesday.

Additionally, the software product lines from EIVA and CARIS are in the process of being further integrated, allowing for seamless workflow without data conversions and the choice to use the individual modules as needed and in desired order.

EIVA's NaviPac survey acquisition software is supported by CARIS’ HIPS and SIPS data-processing software. Processed bathymetry from HIPS and SIPS is available for further manipulation, including pipeline inspection work, in EIVA's NaviModel 3D application.

NaviModel also has the ability to utilize CARIS' Bathy DataBASE for data storage and retrieval, and allows delivery of digital datasets utilizing standard geospatial formats.

Source: CARIS press release

Shell's Arctic Drillship Returns to Harbor
After Running Aground on Alaskan Shoreline
Shell’s (The Hague, Netherlands) Arctic-class drillship, Kulluk, arrived on Tuesday at a harbor on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, after being towed from where it ran aground on the southeast shoreline of Sitkalidak Island, Alaska.

The Kulluk was driven aground by violent weather on December 31, while being towed by the MV Aiviq from Alaska to Seattle, Washington. There has been no loss of life and no significant injuries as a result of this incident, Shell said. The company reported no environmental impact and no leakage of the low-sulfur diesel fuel or hydraulic fluid stored in strong tanks on board the vessel.

The drillship will now undergo a safety assessment before resuming its journey to its winter harbor for repairs and maintenance. More than 600 people are engaged in the incident response.

"At this stage, it’s too early to gauge any impact on our ongoing exploration plans, but with the Kulluk now safely recovered, we’ll carry out a detailed assessment of the vessel to understand what those impacts might be," Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Co. (Houston, Texas). "In the meantime, we will participate in the U.S. Coast Guard’s investigation into the causes of this incident and will implement lessons learned."

Environmentalists have renewed their efforts in calling for an Arctic drilling moratorium. According to FuelFix.com, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has asked the Coast Guard and Shell to explain why they didn’t offload more diesel fuel from the Kulluk, which does not have its own propulsion engines, before the trip. The double-hulled drillship's three fuel tanks are estimated to contain 140,000 gallons of low-sulfur diesel fuel, which officials said were used for ballast and to operate cranes, winches and other equipment on the vessel, FuelFix.com reported.

Caption: Shell's drillship Kulluk.

Sources: Shell press release and FuelFix.com

Phoenix International Recovers F-16 Aircraft
Phoenix International Holdings Inc. (Largo, Maryland) has successfully completed the underwater search and recovery of a U.S. Air Force F-16 aircraft from more than 16,400 feet of seawater (fsw), the company said last week.

In early August 2012, at the direction of the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command’s Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), Phoenix mobilized the Navy’s ORION deepwater side scan sonar system, the CURV 21 ROV, and the motion-compensated, 30,000-pound Fly-Away Deep Ocean Salvage System (FADOSS).

All equipment was transported over land from Phoenix’s facility in Largo to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. From there, military transport aircraft moved the equipment to Hawaii, where the gear was loaded aboard USNS Navajo (T-ATF 169).

After a 10-day transit to the crash site, underwater search operations commenced using the Navy’s 20,000-fsw-depth search system, ORION. After searching the initial planned search area spanning a 2-by-4-nautical-mile area, search operations shifted to another high-probability area and the suspected F-16 debris field was identified.

Next, Phoenix personnel deployed the CURV 21 ROV and conducted a video survey of the area in which the flight data recorder and engine were identified. Over the next 10 days, the Phoenix team piloted the CURV 21 ROV through 12 dives and recovered all critical items desired by the embarked accident investigating board.

During the operations, the team faced extreme water depths and adverse weather conditions, including erratic high winds, large waves and strong currents.

Caption: The CURV 21 ROV.

Source: Phoenix International Holdings Inc. press release

Teledyne BlueView Adds Lightweight,
10° Down-Angle Options to M Series Sonar
Teledyne BlueView (Seattle, Washington) introduced Wednesday two options to its mini M Series 2D Multibeam Imaging Sonar: lightweight and built-in 10° down-angle. These options are designed for micro-ROV and diver handheld platforms.

The lightweight model reduces the M Series weight by 30 percent, from 5 pounds to 3.4 pounds in air with near neutral buoyancy in water. The built-in 10° down-angle enhances usability by improving imaging of bottom or surface targets without having to tip the sonar or platform downward.

Caption: Teledyne BlueView's mini M Series, available with lightweight and 10° down-angle options.

Source: Teledyne BlueView press release

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