Cotter with the third-generation Adaptable Monitoring Package prior to a four-month deployment in Sequim Bay. (Photo by James Joslin | University of Washington).
In this month’s Triton Story you will meet Emma Cotter, ocean engineer and marine researcher. Learn about how Cotter’s experience with the development of the University of Washington Adaptable Monitoring Package connected her to the Triton Initiative, and how she is bringing her ocean engineering and acoustics expertise to the project. Cotter now supports Triton’s particle motion project, research on collision risk data collection, and is helping engineer collision control solutions for tidal turbines. Read all about Cotter’s path to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and contributions to Triton.
FIELD NOTES: THE PLANNING PHASE
A lot goes on behind the scenes to make field research possible. While it’s exciting to highlight the colorful underwater footage and sunny days working on the boat, most of the fieldwork process is in the planning. Before any researcher heads to the field, sites are permitted, safety protocols are developed, and instruments are calibrated and tested before sending them into hash marine environments.
Here are some of Triton’s field research plans that are in the works!
Triton’s underwater noise field trials: The Triton Field Trialsunderwater noise team is preparing to return to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to retrieve hydrophones that were deployed for several weeks in La Jolla, California, to characterize underwater noise around the CalWave Power Technologies xWave wave energy converter. The team looks forward to diving into the data!
Acoustic particle motion project: This summer, the particle motion team will conduct a side-by-side comparison of instrument packages that quantify the particle motion component of underwater noise alongside traditional hydrophone technologies. They will also test different shields for reducing flow noise, or the underwater noise emitted as water flows by the sensors.
TRITON NEWS
Triton Talks Webinar 2: Predictive Modeling with Kate Beanau
You are invited to participate in Session 2 of Triton Talks, a webinar series that features a behind-the-scenes look at environmental monitoring field trials conducted in 2020 and 2021. On March 17th,join Quantitative Ecologist Kate Buenau in an informational webinar session to learn about predictive modeling methods for understanding potential environmental impacts for marine energy applications.
Alex Barker recently joined the Triton team as a research associate and will be supporting several Triton tasks. She is a recent postgraduate from Florida Atlantic University, where she studied ocean engineering. Barker’s expertise is in the interdisciplinary engineering of ocean systems with an emphasis on autonomy. She was drawn to this field by a passion for the ocean and a complimentary curiosity about how things work, and is excited for the opportunity to be a part of Triton’s marine technology research. Barker can’t wait to apply her background in interdisciplinary ocean systems engineering and autonomy to assist in the development and implementation of the program’s various marine monitoring projects. Welcome to the team, Alex!
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE
Did you attend the first Triton Talks webinar? What did you think? Let us know via e-mail at TritonMRE@pnnl.gov or through this survey.
Triton is designed to support the development and testing of more precise and cost-effective environmental monitoring technologies for marine energy. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory leads Triton on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office.
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