MWCC to Deploy Capping Stack for Exercise in Gulf
The U.S. government is requiring Houston, Texas-based Marine Well Containment Co. (MWCC) to conduct a live drill this summer to deploy its capping stack in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) will oversee the tests, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced last week. BSEE tests capping stacks on the surface as part of its responsibility to enforce offshore safety requirements implemented in response to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.

The demonstration will involve the field deployment and testing of a capping stack as part of a larger scenario that will also test an operator's ability to obtain and schedule the deployment of the supporting systems necessary for successful containment, including debris removal equipment and oil collection devices, such as top hats. The capping stack will be lowered to the seabed by wire, a technique that offers the potential to be significantly faster than the deployment via pipe that occurred during the Deepwater Horizon response.

As part of the exercise, BSEE will also analyze the results from tests conducted on the seafloor.

"We have tested MWCC and capping stacks repeatedly, but putting them through their paces in the deep waters of the Gulf will give us added confidence that they will be ready to go if needed," BSEE Director James Watson said.

MWCC is one of two consortia that provide contract access to well containment equipment to oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico. This equipment is required by BSEE for drilling with subsea blowout preventers in deepwater, among other situations. The other consortium, the Helix Well Containment Group (Houston), will complete a similar deployment exercise in the future.

Caption: The capping stack at a port facility in Houston, Texas, ready for deployment.

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior press release

Chinese Scientists Set Sail for Record 7,000-Meter Manned Dive to Mariana Trench
China's manned submersible Jiaolong will attempt to dive 7,000 meters below sea level to the Mariana Trench, state-run news agency Xinhua reports. If successful, the manned dive, expected to begin in June and end in July, will be the world's deepest and show China is capable of reaching 99.8 percent of Earth's seabeds.

The mission's mother ship set sail on Tuesday. The two-man dive is expected to last more than 10 hours. Jiaolong successfully reached more than 5,000 meters depth last year in a 2.5-hour operation, and China has expressed confidence the submersible will be able to withstand pressures greater than 7,000 meters. Upon reaching these depths, the divers will conducts tests on the submersible's functionality and take seabed samples.

The aim of the operation is to develop ocean-resource management and exploration.

"The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea allocates several zones of the high seas to China for resource management. Those geographical zones contain ores and resources that can't be found on land." Song Xiaojun, a marine expert, told Xinhua. "But most of these resources are located at depths as low as 6,000 meters, some as low as 10,000 meters. China needs the technology to utilize these resources because energy is the key to the country's industrialization."

Caption: The manned submersible Jiaolong on board the Xiangyangghong 09.

Source: Xinhuanet

JRC, NOAA Sign Agreement to Increase
Cooperation in Ocean, Coastal Programs
NOAA and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) today signed an agreement to strengthen cooperative science activities in oceans, coasts, climate and weather. The signing also marked the launch of these first four environmental monitoring projects under the agreement.

The agreement includes activities such as training, exchanges of personnel, shared use of the scientific infrastructure, support for joint research, access to laboratory facilities, timely exchange of information and the promotion of the relevant calls for grants and proposals.

The signing was part of a trip to Brussels, Belgium, by Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, to speak before the European Parliament Fisheries Committee on international cooperation for sustainable fisheries management. Lubchenco was invited by EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki to highlight U.S. fisheries rebuilding, as Europe is proposing major reforms to its fisheries management.

The agreement stems from previous meetings between U.S. and EU leaders, including a meeting in January between Lubchenco and EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.

Caption: Jane Lubchenco (second from the left), under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, and Dominique Ristori (second from the right), director general of the JRC, signed the JRC–NOAA agreement.

Source: NOAA, JRC press releases

Northstar Electronics Acquires Echotec Sonar
Northstar Electronics Inc. (Vancouver, Canada) completed last Thursday its acquisition of Echotec Sonar (Ashton, Canada), which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Northstar Electronics plans to develop sonar systems for defense, homeland security, commercial shipping, cruise ship and commercial fishing sectors. Echotec will also pursue contract opportunities to design, develop and build systems for projects in North America and internationally.

Northstar will now be seeking new partners for joint developments, projects and funding.

"We saw this as an excellent chance to get back to our original business area, the sonar world, and we will now endeavor to fully capitalize on this opportunity," said Wilson Russell, CEO of Northstar Electronics. "We are in the process of the disposition of our defense operating subsidiary, focused on contract manufacturing, so this will effectively be a rebranding of Northstar."

Source: Northstar Electronics press release

Echoscope Assists Deep BV in Cable Laying Operations
CodaOctopus (Edinburgh, Scotland) and Nautikaris BV (IJmuiden, Netherlands) recently have been involved in a project for Deep BV Hydrography and Geophysics (Amsterdam, Netherlands), providing positioning and survey services for the installation of a power cable at the Thornton Bank Wind Farm off the Belgian coast.

This is the first time the Echoscope sonar has been used to monitor the cable's catenary and touchdown point in 3D as it was being laid on the seabed. Additionally, it was also used to visualize and monitor the pull-in of the cable into the J-tube.

CodaOctopus' USE (Underwater Survey Explorer) software overlaid a computer-generated image of the planned siting of the cable onto the sonar view to confirm the cable was being laid on target. The work is ongoing.

Jurgen Beerens, commercial manager at Deep BV, said, "By ensuring the correct siting of the cable and by making necessary adjustments as it is being laid, we were able to work continuously without having to stop to check its position."

Caption: View of the cable's touchdown point and catenary during laying operations.

Source: Echoscope press release

Bluefin to Make SeeTrack Military Software Plug-In
For Mine Countermeasures
Bluefin Robotics Corp. (Quincy, Massachusetts) AUVs will be compatible with SeeByte's (Edinburgh, Scotland) SeeTrack Military software by means of proving a Bluefin-specific software plug-in.

Bluefin and SeeByte successfully delivered the software plug-in under a Naval Sea Systems Command contract for a variant of the Bluefin-9 AUV. Bluefin's Operator Tool Suite, which includes mission planning, mission monitoring and post-missions analysis modules, interacts with the SeeTrack Military software and gives users the option to plan missions and analyze payload data in either platform, depending on their specific needs.

Bluefin AUV users will have features available for SeeTrack Military, such as automatic target recognition and performance analysis and training tool, which are used globally for mine countermeasures. SeeTrack Military is used by 14 navies.

Source: Bluefin, SeeByte press release

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