Undersea Vehicles and National Needs (1996) / Chapter Skim
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Vital National Needs
Vital National Needs
Pages 47-69
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From page 47... ...
This chapter reviews some of the potential of those explorations for furthering the national interests in a range of scientific, regulatory, military, and industrial fields. To illustrate these potential contributions, the committee has included the four focal projects shown in Table 3-1 technology development and integration projects that could lead to new applications of undersea vehicles in support of national objectives: · synoptic observation system · blue water oceanographic sections and hydrographic surveys · subsea oil field inspection and intervention · search and survey The projects would make possible tasks heretofore unachievable or impractical but of obvious value to society.
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From page 48... ...
A central tenet of plate tectonics is that most geologic interactions occur in a small number of narrow, highly dynamic zones where the edges of large plates are in contact. There are three types of plate boundaries: deep ocean trenches, spreading centers or mid-ocean ridges, and transform faults.
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From page 49... ...
Our experiences during the relatively recent investigations of oceanic spreading centers on the seafloor, with their hydrothermal vents and completely unsuspected thermophylic and chemosynthetic life forms, urges scientific exploration, surveying, and hypothesis-testing in the deep ocean trenches. Certainly that there is much to be learned.
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From page 50... ...
Now that the ROV Kaiko has reached the deepest ocean, the next step in the expansion of temporal and spatial observation and exploration would appear to be achievable using a deep-diving AUV or DSV equipped with ceramic pressure hulls, sophisticated in situ and remote sensors, and data acquisition and logging capabilities. Spreading Centers or Midocean Ridges A system of spreading centers stretches through most of the Earth's major oceans, like the seams on a baseball.
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From page 51... ...
To illustrate the potential of AUVs in delineating the fine structure of variations in the ocean waters over time, the committee has developed a focal project on a synoptic observation system, described in Box 3-1. ROVs and AUVs could improve survey coverage in programs that require monitoring chemical species (for example, carbon dioxide)
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From page 54... ...
is perhaps less dramatic than the ones just discussed, it UNDERSEA VEHICLES AND NATIONAL NEEDS will be of considerable value in terms of both science and economics. Blue water oceanographic sections and hydrographic surveys using undersea vehicles show how the efficiency of such data acquisition from an oceanographic research ship could be doubled or tripled at only incremental costs.
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From page 55... ...
Undersea vehicles must be able to perform deep water operations to locate and survey sites of interest and then inspect them in detail over relatively small areas. LIVI N G RESO U RC ES AN D ENVI RO N M ENTAL MANAG EM ENT Living Resources Management of marine living resources has grown more challenging as human populations have grown and fishing technology has advanced.
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From page 56... ...
56 UNDERSEA VEHICLES AND NATIONAL NEEDS ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: a -- ~ ~ 10 ~ a -- -it 1 1 at- | I t- a c ~ - n t ~ ~ ~ t ....................................................................................................
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From page 58... ...
The proposed disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in the deep seafloor, if approved, would likely require the use of undersea vehicles, given the great depths at which it would occur 3The London Dumping Convention is the general title given to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, adopted in 1972 by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Maritime Organization (now the International Maritime Organization)
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From page 59... ...
Much of the potential for using undersea vehicles in water-quality research and monitoring will depend on the development of sensors capable of high-quality measurements of environmentally important chemical species. Sensors designed for oceanographic work may prove useful in detection of dissolved trace metals and nutrients, but many important chemical species, such as chromium, cannot yet be detected using sensors suitable for undersea vehicles.
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From page 60... ...
The offshore oil and gas industry is the leading user of undersea vehicles, worldwide, both in numbers and in dollar value. The industry used DSVs briefly during the early rapid growth of offshore exploration in the 1960s and 1970s, but ROVs with their lower risk to humans, reduced system costs, and greater endurance-eventually displaced DSVs for most tasks.
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From page 61... ...
61 Mission requirements for undersea vehicles in the ocean energy industry would be similar to those in the offshore oil and gas industry, with the addition of specific sensors and intervention requirements. These requirements will involve a great deal of detailed observation and intervention, with manipulation capabilities of sufficient strength for in situ construction and maintenance tasks.
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From page 62... ...
During the past four decades, pioneers, including Edwin Link, Willard Bascom, and George Bass, used undersea vehicles for archaeology at much greater water depths, adapting technology developed mainly for oceanographic research, offshore oil operations, and military activities. In 1966, the DSV Aluminaut discovered two cannoncarrying wooden ships on the seafloor off Palomares, Spain; in 1974, a Johnson Sea-Link DSV surveyed the wreck of the
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From page 63... ...
Many of the required capabilities may also be adapted from those developed for other applications, such as oceanographic surveys and sampling, and from scientific, military, and commercial search and survey methods. The focal project on search and survey (see Box 3-4)
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64 UNDERSEA VEHICLES AND NATIONAL NEEDS M-o-r -- e i i ~i i 1 i ; (-n-& -- n-i -- n-t-r -- -u-si- ; & il ...........
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From page 66... ...
NATIONAL SECURITY, PUBLIC SAFETY, AND REGULATION Military Applications The military was the main force behind the development of undersea vehicle technology in the United States. Techniques and devices developed for military applications have led the field in technology and have been transferred to other fields, such as offshore oil and gas operations.
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From page 67... ...
The hitherto unsuspected existence of specialized communities at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps was confirmed by scientists using undersea vehicles. Further exploration is certain to reveal other profound discoveries, including, perhaps, new biological chemicals with medical or industrial uses.
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From page 68... ...
Finding. Law enforcement and regulatory agencies use undersea vehicles in a variety of missions, including helping detect pollution, interdicting illegal drug shipments, and monitoring marine sanctuaries and other protected areas.
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From page 69... ...
Pp. 5-125-5-128 in 1992 Annual Report submitted to NOAA's Office of Undersea Research by NOAA' s National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina.
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