GPS World

Tag: UK Centre for Seabed Mapping

  • Seen & Heard: FAA updates interference resources, measuring Bangladesh’s highest peak and more

    Seen & Heard: FAA updates interference resources, measuring Bangladesh’s highest peak and more

    Interference clocked by the FAA

    The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has updated its “GNSS Interference Resource Guide.” The FAA’s Flight Technologies and Procedures Division (AFS-400) developed the guide to provide operators and pilots with current information on GPS/GNSS jamming and spoofing. According to the guide, “As the threat of GNSS jamming and spoofing is constantly changing, the FAA will update this resource guide to provide the best guidance in the rapidly changing environments.”

    Download the guide here.

    UK scientists unite to uncover coastline mysteries

    The research vessel Cefas Endeavour at dock in Lowestoft.(Credit: Cefas)
    The research vessel Cefas Endeavour at dock in Lowestoft.(Credit: Cefas)

    The UK Centre for Seabed Mapping (UK CSM) conducted a survey to explore and map the seabed along the United Kingdom’s southwest coastline. For four weeks, a team of 26 maritime scientists collected hydrographic, geological and environmental data. According to UK CSM, the survey represents an unprecedented level of collaboration within the maritime sector. The team aimed to collect and share high-quality marine data and make advances in how the seabed is mapped, understood and managed. The findings will support a wide range of applications including offshore energy and infrastructure, marine ecosystem science, safety at sea, marine policy, and defense.

    Bangladesh at the top

    Credit: MD Maruf Hassan/E+/Getty Images
    Credit: MD Maruf Hassan/E+/Getty Images

    In April, field teams for the Survey department under the Ministry of Defense
    conducted field work in the remote hill areas of Bangladesh to determine the
    highest peak. Surveyors used modern geodetic methods and advanced GNSS
    technology in the Bandarban district, and followed international standards to
    determine the height of the country’s highest peak above mean sea level (MSL)
    with centimeter-level accuracy, including latitude, longitude and elevation.

    Turbulence shrinks Antartica’s Ross Ice Shelf

    Sketch (not to scale) of GNSS sensitivity to atmospheric turbulence in Antarctica. GNSS stations can probe the spatiotemporal distribution of water vapor in the lower atmosphere because water vapor induces a measurable signal propagation delay. Water-vapor distribution is spatially homogeneous for a non-turbulent atmosphere and heterogeneous when the atmosphere is turbulent. (Credit: MIT)
    Sketch (not to scale) of GNSS sensitivity to atmospheric turbulence in Antarctica (Credit: MIT)

    GNSS observations suggest a major melting event at Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf was
    linked to atmospheric turbulence. While the shelf typically melts underneath from warm ocean water, an unusual surface melting episode occurred in January 2016. Researchers from MIT Haystack Observatory used data from existing GNSS stations, with 13 stations installed on the shelf, to examine atmospheric turbulence. Wind, water vapor and temperature variations drawn in by warm and humid air caused the surface to melt, with turbulence four times greater than usual.

  • UK scientists unite to map southwest coast seabed

    UK scientists unite to map southwest coast seabed

    The UK Centre for Seabed Mapping (UK CSM) will undertake a seabed mapping survey – CSM2026 – to explore and map the seabed along the UK’s southwest coastline.

    The research survey takes place between April 20 and May 19. It consists of two survey legs, starting in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and ending in Falmouth, Cornwall. Throughout the four-week survey, using cutting‑edge survey technology deployed from the Research Vessel Cefas Endeavour, a team of 26 scientists from across the field of maritime research began collecting vital hydrographic, geological and environmental data when they set sail from Lowestoft next week.

    The survey represents an unprecedented level of collaboration within the maritime sector. By combining skills and capabilities in a single survey, the team aim to secure data to deliver the UK government’s commitments and make advances in how the seabed is mapped, understood and managed.

    UK CSM includes more than 30 public sector organizations commited to collect and share high-quality marine data. For the coastline mapping project, the 11 involved are the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA); the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO); British Geological Survey (BGS); Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas); Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), The Crown Estate; Historic England; Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC); Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Northern Ireland (AFBI); Natural England and the Royal Navy.

    Over the course of the survey, the scientists on board will have the opportunity to work with experts from other public sector organizations, share skills, and source key seabed mapping data that supports a wide range of applications including offshore energy and infrastructure, marine ecosystem science, safety at sea, marine policy, and defense.

  • UK organizations join new center for seabed mapping

    UK organizations join new center for seabed mapping

    Initiative aims to increase the global coverage, quality and accessibility of seabed mapping data through collaboration and the creation of a more integrated marine geospatial sector

    Durdle Door on the beach in Dorset County, United Kingdom. (Photo: Fonrimso/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
    Durdle Door on the beach in Dorset County, United Kingdom. (Photo: Fonrimso/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

    The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is inviting UK government organizations involved in seabed mapping who share common interests in optimizing the UK’s national maritime assets to become members of the newly unveiled UK Centre for Seabed Mapping (UK CSM).

    UK CSM is administered by the UKHO, and was submitted as a UK Government Voluntary Commitment to the United Nations at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 27.

    The UK CSM has a remit to increase the coverage, quality and access of seabed mapping data collected using public funds, as well as to better promote it as a critical component of national infrastructure.

    Working groups established

    Created to spearhead a coordinated approach to the collection, management and access of seabed mapping data – and to champion a more integrated marine geospatial sector in the UK – the UK CSM has established three working groups: National Data Collaboration, International Data Collaboration, and Data Collection Standards.

    These working groups will further the discussion and coordination of data accessibility, collection and collaboration, as well as progress work on data standards, by creating the conditions and developing infrastructure to enable the diverse community of marine geospatial stakeholders to come together to deliver significant, sustained and strategic benefits to the UK – particularly in the context of the integrated review and the UK’s Global Britain vision.

    So far, 22 government agencies are involved in the inaugural management group meeting of the UK CSM and volunteered to participate on the working groups.

    The UK CSM will develop specifications that support UK and international standards for the collection of marine geospatial data.