Bringing multibeam acoustic surveying into the classroom through interactive 3D scenes

HYDRO INTERNATIONAL

An educational platform designed to make multibeam echosounder (MBES) surveying tangible for students, trainees and practising hydrographers has been released by the Department of Civil Engineering’s GPHIDRO Hydrographic Research Group at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) in Brazil. Conceived and developed by Professor Italo Ferreira, head of GPHIDRO, the MBES Simulator translates concepts that usually live inside operational software, technical standards and field experience into interactive three-dimensional scenes that anyone with a computer can explore.

The MBES Simulator platform addresses a recurring gap in hydrographic education. Acoustic survey geometry, swath coverage, ray bending in the water column, uncertainty propagation (TVU and THU) and platform attitude effects are often described in equations and norms before students ever see them happen. The

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Aker Arctic presents icebreaking container ship for top of the world route

March 29, 2021


Vessels are piling up on both sides of the Suez Canal, in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea, waiting for the tugboats to free the giant container ship “Ever Given” that ran aground on Tuesday. Meanwhile, other ships have started to divert around Africa as it might take many days, maybe weeks, to free the 224,000-ton ship.

For container ships en route from Asia to Europe, the voyage around Africa takes up to two weeks longer, adding millions in extra costs.

Ship designers with Aker Arctic in Finland could likely not have found a better timing opportunity to introduce its latest study: an icebreaking Arctic container ship.

The Northern Sea Route north of Russia is about 40% shorter when sailing from

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El Niño declared for 2026 as Pacific warms

 

 

 

Author: Met Office

Thu 11 Jun 2026
 

El Niño conditions have now developed in the tropical Pacific, marking the start of a new phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle for 2026.

This transition has now been formally declared by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which today confirmed that El Niño has developed and issued an El Niño Advisory, indicating that the conditions are observed and expected to continue

This transition has been anticipated for some time, with forecasts over recent months consistently indicating an increased likelihood that El Niño would form early this summer.

The focus is now turning to the potential strength of this event and its impacts.

Current seasonal forecast guidance suggests that the developing El Niño is

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Sea State and Swell

 

 

 

https://blog.metservice.com/Sea_State_and_Swell

The MetService team produces both coastal and recreational marine forecasts. Part of these forecasts includes the state of the sea and the swell. But what is the difference?

Firstly, it is important to understand how a wave is described. Figure one shows the different characteristics of a wave.

  
 
Figure 1: Wave characteristics

a - wave amplitude. The vertical distance from mean level to crest, measured in metres.
H - wave height. The vertical height from crest to trough, measured in metres. It is equal to twice the amplitude.
L - wave length. The horizontal distance from crest to crest, measured in metres.
T - wave period. For a moving wave, the duration of one cycle from one crest to the

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Surging Tropical Pacific ocean surface temperatures and early European heatwave in May

https://climate.copernicus.eu/

surging-tropical-pacific-ocean-

surface-temperatures-and

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DATE:11th June 2026

Record-breaking ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific and an exceptionally early and intense heatwave across western Europe were among the defining features of May 2026, according to the latest Climate Bulletin from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Left: Daily sea surface temperature (°C) averaged over the tropical Pacific region (155°E–90°W, 30°S–30°N). Right: Anomalies and extremes in sea surface temperature for May 2026. The extreme (“Coolest” and “Warmest”) categories are based on May rankings for the period 1979–2026. Values are calculated only for the ice-free oceans. The map outlines the Tropical

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