Page 47: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Jan/Feb 2019)

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FEATURE TECH Remote Ocean Sensing

HUNTING HYDROCARBONS

A new tool is being added to the box for hydrocarbon hunting – and a raft of other anthropomorphic and chemical signatures in the world’s seas and oceans. Offshore Engineer reports on developing unmanned wide area remote ocean sensing systems for seep, sound and leak detection.

BY ELAINE MASLIN ince their emergence in the 2000s, ocean glider systems have opened up new possibili- ties for ocean observation and

Smonitoring. Their capabilities are continuing to expand, including in the oil and gas exploration and produc- tion arena, from hydrocarbon seep sur- veys and passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) surveys during seismic opera- tions to leak detection and oil spill mon- itoring. The primary attraction of ocean gliders is their ability to stay at sea for months, monitor-

One of ing wide areas in remote lo-

Blue Ocean cations down to signi? cant

Monitoring’s

Slocum Gliders depths. This is because their