Technologies for

Exploring the Ocean

 Vessels are arguably the most critical element in any ocean-going
venture. Once a ship leaves the safety of its dock, it is an island unto itself on
the open seas, its crew at the mercy of the waves. Any ship, from a 15-foot
sailboat to a 1,500-foot tanker, must carry all of the food, water, fuel, and
equipment that its crew will need to live safely for the duration of the
journey.
 Over the last few decades, engineers have developed submersible technologies
capable of meeting the many challenges that the deep sea imposes upon explorers,
allowing us to dive to depths where utter darkness, crushing pressures, and extreme cold
temperatures prohibit SCUBA operations. Submersibles alone enable us to explore the
abyssal depths. Example: Bathyscaphe Trieste

Trieste is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe, which with

its crew of two reached a record maximum depth of about 10,911 meters, in the deepest
known part of the Earth's oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench near Guam
in the Pacific
--measures the speed and
direction of ocean currents
using the principle of “Doppler
shift.”
an undersea laboratory and home for
scientists studying the marine environment
that is owned and operated by Florida
International University (FIU). The
underwater habitat currently sits in about
60 feet of water, 4.5 kilometers offshore
of Key Largo, Florida, on a sand patch
adjacent to deep coral reefs in the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
 Power is generated from tides in a manner similar to
hydroelectric power plants.
 Wave energy generation devices fall into two general classifications: fixed
and floating. Fixed generating devices, which are mounted either to the
seabed or shore.

The Oscillating Water Column, a fixed device built on shore, generates

electricity in a two-step process. As a wave enters and leaves the column, the
water in the column rises and falls, which in turn forces air back and forth
through a turbine at the top of the column. This is a very simple device, but it is
difficult to build and anchor so that it is able to withstand the roughest sea
conditions and yet generate a reasonable amount of power from small waves.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) utilizes the
temperature difference between the warm surface sea water
and cold deep ocean water to generate electricity. As long
as a sufficient temperature difference (20°C or 68°F) exists
between the warm upper layer of water and the cold deep
water, net power can be generated.