The October issue of Sea Technology Magazine features an article discussing the numerous benefits of marine energy and highlights potential environmental concerns around deploying these systems in coastal waters. Written by Ocean Energy Systems – Environmental in collaboration with Triton, the article discusses how these two projects are working to address uncertainty regarding the potential environmental impacts of marine energy systems. Supported by the Water Power Technologies Office, both of these projects ultimately aim to support the advancement and deployment of marine energy systems. Learn more.
FIELD NOTES: TETHERED BALLOON FIELDWORK
Aerial photo of humpback whales in motion. This photo was taken under National Marine Fisheries Service Scientific Research Permit No. 21482 issued to Dan Engelhaupt. (Photo by Mark Cotter)
The Marine Wildlife Detection and Tracking project is preparing for fieldwork in Houston, Texas! Alicia Amerson and the Triton team are partnering with Sandia National Laboratories to investigate long-term aerial monitoring systems that detect and track marine wildlife at sea to validate these technologies for use at marine energy test sites and other fixed remote locations. The project includes testing a multispectral sensor and other camera systems used to capture images used for wildlife detection above, and below, the surface. The sensors will be deployed using a tethered balloon—a technology often used for climate and atmospheric science monitoring—to support marine wildlife detection and classification. We look forward to sharing future updates on this research!
TRITON NEWS
CalWave News Release Features Triton
Returning the CalWave x1™ to shore after a successful deployment. (Photo courtesy of CalWave Power Technologies)
CalWave Power Technologies, a partner of the Triton Initiative, successfully concluded its open-ocean wave energy pilot last month with many notable successes. The first wave energy project of its kind concluded with a promising outlook for large-scale deployments of marine energy devices. The system supports third-party biological assessments to assure the safety of marine life, roughly 80 percent autonomy in operational time, and architecture enabling the device to survive several major storms among other things. During the x1™ trial, Triton team members deployed a Boxfish 360 camera and several acoustic recorders that resulted in unprecedented environmental monitoring data. Learn more about the CalWave demonstration and check out CalWave's full press release, including video.
Reminder: Triton Talks YouTube Playlist is Live
If you missed any of the webinars from this past year, you can now access all recordings.
Although this round of webinars has ended, please consider submitting feedback, questions, or thoughts for future webinars, by taking our survey. This will help us select topics that most interest you!
IN OTHER ENERGY NEWS
Marine Energy 101
Interested in learning about the types of marine energy, applications, and environmental monitoring approaches? Check out these Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Triton resources:
Are there topics you’d like to learn more about through Triton Stories, the newsletter, or other content? Let us know.
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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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