Business Development Executive/Manager – Staff Oceanographer.

Due to exceptional growth, Surrey based Planet Ocean Ltd is seeking a business development
executive/manager with additional responsibilities as staff oceanographer.

The position would suit an experienced marine scientist with a background in biogeochemistry wishing to
make the transition to the commercial world.

Planet Ocean work with some of the world’s leading providers of marine scientific instruments, and this is a unique opportunity to be associated with them.

The successful individual will be required to illuminate the company, its products and services within the marketplace and to help the existing and future team to  achieve profitable sales across particularly the biogeochemistry product range of the company to existing and new customers within the UK, with the possibility  of European Opportunities and to ensure that the sales process is efficiently executed to maximise customer satisfaction and firmly establish Planet Ocean as the supplier and partner of choice.  In addition to the sales role, the individual will be able to use their expertise to provide technical and scientific advice to existing and potential customers  and liaise with our overseas partners.

The position reports directly to the Managing Director, and offers excellent opportunities for career progression as the company continues to expand.  Full details are available upon request.

Please contact Carole Sloane carole@planet-ocean.co.uk  for complete details or download a full job description by clicking Job Description

Planet Ocean ltd and its Canadian principal, the newly launched Ocean Sonics Ltd are proud to make delivery of the very first ic-Listen-HF, High Frequency Smart Hydrophone to Dr Merin Broudic of Swansea University at a small ceremony on their stand at Oceanology International in London this week. The hand over was made by Mr Terry Sloane MD of Planet Ocean and Mark Wood President of Ocean Sonics, following the world launch of this unique new instrument at OI, the same day.

The ic-Listen-HF follows on from the very successful ic-Listen-LF (Low frequency) smart hydrophone and extends the measurement range to 20 KHz.  The low power system makes very high resolution measurements of sounds in the ocean and process the data internally into calibrated data files that can be stored on the hydrophones internal memory, or output as .WAV audio files, or pre processed FFT files which can be used straight away without further processing.  The new HF range device covers the frequencies associated with the toothed citations such as dolphins and small whales, as well as the lower frequency anthropogenic sounds in the oceans.

The HF device generates a massive 20GB of data a day, and the favoured interface used with  the ic-Listen-HF is the broadband Ethernet choice, which not only speeds up data transfer but allows remote access and control of the hydrophone over the internet, which opens up massive possibilities for networks of acoustic monitoring of the oceans.

Dr Broudic is working at the LCRI (Low Carbon Research Institute Marine) with underwater noise associated with tidal stream turbine developing drifting and seabed recording  methodology of ambient noise and tidal stream turbine noise.

http://www.intoceansys.co.uk/articles-detail.php?iss=0000000028&acl=0000000219

Surrey based Planet Ocean ltd and its Icelandic technology partner Star-Oddi are supplying a record
breaking 234 Starmon-Mini temperature recorders to the National Oceanography Centre for use on the PAP (Porcupine Abyssal Plain) ocean observatory site.  The site is located in the north Atlantic south west of Ireland in 4,900m of water and has been observed for more than twenty years providing key time-series datasets for analysing the effect of climate change on the open ocean and deep-sea
ecosystems.   

This is the largest single order for one instrument type ever received by Planet Ocean & Star-Oddi of Iceland and a real privilege to be selected by The National Oceanography Centre for use at the PAP site.

A mixture of deep (11,000 m) titanium devices along with the standard shallow (400m) plastic versions have been purchased and will be deployed to provide vital data for the deep ocean to boundary layer interaction experiment later this year.

Starmon-Mini
measures to an accuracy of +/- 0.05 ^oC and a resolution of 0.013 ^oC has a memory capacity of 350,000 records as standard and a 10 year battery life.  Measuring only 25mm diameter by 130mm long

These small temperature data loggers are in fact, physically the largest in the range offered by Icelandic Manufacturer Star-Oddi whose offerings include loggers for conductivity, temperature, depth as well as pitch and roll, and compass heading.  The smallest of the range is the DST-nano which measures 6mm x 17mm and weighs only 1 gram !! 

Terry Sloane, Planet Ocean’s managing director comments “we have been privileged to provide a variety of biogeochemistry instruments from our partners including Satlantic & WET labs for use at the PAP site in recent years, and this significant order continues that fine tradition”.

The 1m diameter buoy, manufactured in British Columbia by AXYS Technologies Inc, will provide wave height and direction information during all phases of the construction and maintenance of this significant infrastructure project.

The Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC) is being delivered by Transport Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government. It is a major infrastructure project for Scotland, designed to safeguard a vital connection in the country’s transport network.

The solar powered buoy measures movement using a combination of six sensors and computes on board, the wave height and direction information along with energy spectra, sea surface temperature and GPS position before sending the information ashore to the FRC control room by VHF data link, where it will be used for obtaining wave height data for analysis and real time decision making.

The builders, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) consortium’s mission is to build a new bridge across the Firth of Forth in the area to the west of existing road bridge. The construction methods require the movement of a significant amount of material and equipment from shore to the various off shore sites and then lift these in to place on the structure. Many of these operations, primarily Ro-ro transfers of equipment and heavy lifting have limits for wind and sea states. Whereas good wind data is available no wave height information is available in the construction area and the bridge builders need to verify the actual maximum wave heights compared with the theoretical figures and subsequently use the combination of the data for real-time operational decision making.

Terry Sloane, Planet Ocean’s managing director comments that this is the most recent of a number of sales into the marine construction industry in the last 18 months with the major growth coming from the offshore wind farm sector.

The platform has already been used for a variety of applications including dredge monitoring, and water quality monitoring and has spawned two new products for Planet Ocean. “Mini-Metbuoy” is a small meteorological buoy providing wind speed and direction, air temperature, air pressure and humidity along with GPS position direct to the web using the companies’ well proven GPRS telemetry module, DBT-3. The ultra low power of the DBT-3 module ensures that even the small minibuoy platform can support the payload, and solar power supply. Communication with the DBT-3 is bi directional, and the buoy/sensors can be configured remotely from your desk meaning no costly site visits are required. Position alarms as well as over or under condition alarms are sent by email and/or SMS text. The newest in the range is “Acoustibuoy” which draws on the unique features if the Instrument Concepts ic-Listen range of smart hydrophones. Acoustibuoy is a small, simple to deploy PAM (Passive Acoustic Monitoring) buoy, which measures, records and transmits calibrated acoustic data via either UHF radio or GRPS cell phone telemetry direct to the web. Raw WAV files, or FFT Spectral data can be sent. The system can be used for acoustic environmental impact studies, turbine and wave generator diagnostics and performance monitoring, marine mammal detection and monitoring and diver monitoring.

The most recent configuration to ship saw a Valeport MIDAS EMCM current meter, deployed below a minibuoy (left).

The Meteorological buoy will provide real-time, quality controlled meteorological and wave data directly to the organisers via satellite.

The buoy is one of a number of similar systems around the UK which use the Planet Ocean DB series hulls and solar power packs with AXYS Technologies Inc Watchman-500 system controllers, TRIAXYS directional wave sensors and Iridium satellite telemetry. The Planet Ocean provided hulls are fitted with sensors and data modules to provide a complete serviced turnkey system to users.

The DB-300-ODAS system incorporates a number of features which make this an impressive ocean data buoy platform. The rotary moulded polyethylene hulls, made in independent quadrants are all foam filled and unsinkable.  Optional “assistor” floats can be added which use a novel method to improve the stability even further in high sea states.  Hull sections incorporate moon pools through which sub sea sensor packages can be deployed.

The tower section which can carry up to 11, 55W solar panels, provides a massive 1.5 m³ of payload space for batteries and electronics with access through large hatches, keeping sensitive electronics and cabling safe within the tower and out of the reach of waves and weather.  A crow’s nest with ladder access is provided for mounting met sensors and antenna arrays.  The tower section can be removed for servicing, leaving the hull in place to support moorings.

The buoy carries the well proven Watchman-500 dual channel instrumentation system with Iridium telemetry and TRIAXYS directional wave sensor supplied by technology partners AXYS Technologies Inc of B.C Canada. The dual channel system duplicates all electronics and sensors with the exception of the wave sensor.  This provides 100% redundancy with associated increase in reliability.

Planet Ocean offer a range of data buoys from 0.6 to 3.6m diameter and with sensors and telemetry options covering most measurement and data transport requirements.

The latest advance in photosynthesis research is the new in-situ FIRe Fluorometer System. Building on the success of the popular bench top FIRe, the in-situ FIRe is designed for real-time profiles and long-term monitoring of single and multiple turnover chlorophyll fluorescence parameters.

Based on the research of Dr. Maxim Gorbunov and Dr. Paul Falkowski from Rutgers University, the FIRe technique uses active stimulation and highly resolved detection of the induction and subsequent relaxation of chlorophyll fluorescence yields on micro- and millisecond time scales.

Some of the many technical advantages of the new in-situ FIRe include:

• Exceptional sensitivity for measurements in low chlorophyll open ocean conditions
• Real-time measurements of the excitation flash intensity to quantify absolute functional absorption cross-sections
• Measurement of the reference excitation profile to provide real-time corrected fluorescence yields
• A highly uniform LED light source that excites Chl A at 455 nm (680 nm detection)
• High ambient light rejection characteristics of the detector optics
• Real-time processing of single turnover induction parameters
• A standard integrated depth sensor and optional ambient PAR sensor
• A flow cell accessory for dark-adapted measurements and pumped configurations
• RS-232, RS-422, USB, and Analog telemetry

In parallel with the release of the in-situ FIRe, is the FIReCOM software package. FIReCOM is a Windows-based control, data visualization and processing software package with a user-friendly and flexible interface that is designed to help the user to get the most out of their in-situ FIRe.

Also released this year is

Deep SUNA:
Submersible Ultraviolet Nitrate Analyzer for the Slocum Glider

The ISUS and SUNA nutrient sensors have been used routinely on fixed platforms for long-term sampling and for vessel based discrete sampling applications. These observations help in characterizing nutrient fluxes in coastal waters, and in understanding their effects, such as eutrophication and hypoxia. With these deployment modes, observations of nutrient distributions in coastal waters remain sparse or limited to specific locations. The SUNA – Slocum Glider combination provides a powerful new capability for routine autonomous monitoring of nutrients in the coastal zone.

In collaboration with Teledyne Webb Research and Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, Satlantic has adapted the SUNA for deployment on the Slocum Glider. The Deep SUNA, which is mounted on top of the Slocum Glider like a dorsal fin, has a lightweight housing capable of operating in the Slocum Glider’s full operational depth envelope. New onboard processing options were developed to economize on energy consumption, telemetry load, and to improve data quality for the AUV deployment mode.

The first Deep SUNA is currently undergoing operational testing at Teledyne Webb Research before being shipped to Villefranche.

Instrument Concepts Inc manufactures a range of “Smart” Digital hydrophones. These devices incorporate advanced digital signal processing and data logging within the hydrophone itself, thus providing a unique, ready to go, calibrated, acoustic system without the need for additional surface based signal processing or equipment. icListen’s integrated 24 bit digital signal processor computes spectral data, time correlations or can use a user supplied custom algorithm. Results are transmitted in real-time, or stored in icListen’s on-board memory. The system can record all raw data as well.

The hydrophones are low power, exceptionally low noise and are used in general oceanographic and scientific research applications, sea mammal monitoring and oil and gas operations for leak detection applications. The icListen range includes MF and LF versions together with a directional version “icLocate” to allow ocean sound sources to be positioned accurately as well as analysed in real time. RS-232 and Ethernet outputs are available. The small light weight devices can be seabed mounted, over the side on ROV’s buoys, or even hand held by divers.

ROMOR Ocean Solutions have released their C-ROM system, “Compact Recoverable Ocean Mooring”.
C-ROM consists of a subsurface flotation collar that provides approximately 36 kgs of positive buoyancy for use in a seawater environment for depths up to 500m. A larger version with more buoyancy will be available shortly. The flotation collar encloses a customer specified acoustic release as well as the client specified instrument(s) that can be accommodated within the dimensions of the design. As an option, the C-ROM “RotoDrum” rope deployment system can be included with the C-ROM to enable recovery of the mooring anchor once the mooring has been released and surfaced. C-ROM, already has standard fittings for many Planet Ocean instruments and systems, including Instrument Concepts, Satlantic, WET Labs, XEOS beacons as well as NORTEK and RDI ADCP systems. A unique feature of C-ROM is that it inverts on the surface which means that the release hydrophone remains in the water and available for ranging.