In Depth: Seabed 2030 E-Newsletter
May 2022 Edition
The latest edition of the Seabed2030 bimonthly e-newsletter ‘In Depth’ is now available to read. This edition features a review of Oceanology International 2022 and other events, a green guide to boating with their partners at The International Seakeepers Society, a look at the NIWA-Nippon Foundation Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project (TESMaP) and much more.
The newsletter can be downloaded from this section of the Seabed2030 website.
Editorial Preface:
Jamie McMichael-Phillips – Seabed 2030 Project Director
The Ocean Decade is now well underway and Seabed 2030 – a flagship programme of the Decade – continues to make headway in its global effort to achieve 100 per cent of the ocean floor mapped by 2030.
It has been an eventful year so far with Seabed 2030 participating in a range of events to spread its message and rally the international community in support of this global endeavour.
I was delighted to form a panel alongside esteemed individuals: Jyotika Virmani, Lowri Evans and Catherine Novelli at The Economist’s 9th Annual World Ocean Summit, where we discussed our mapping targets and how best to ensure we remain on track to achieve them.
A Seabed 2030 delegation also participated in Oceanology International – the world’s largest ocean technology exhibition and conference – held in London, in March. With the significant number of attendees spanning across academia, businesses and government, Seabed 2030 utilised the opportunity to connect with a range of prospective stakeholders.
We are well aware of the countless benefits of a complete map of the seafloor – it is not to be viewed as a novelty, but rather a necessity if we are to safeguard our future and that of the planet.
To this end, Seabed 2030 is proud to support the NIWA-Nippon Foundation Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project. The Project saw NIWA scientists set sail to Tonga last month to survey the ocean around the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcano which caused a tsunami that devastated the island and spread throughout the Pacific earlier this year. The scientists will survey thousands of square kilometres of the seafloor and collect video images of the eruption’s impact from NIWA’s research vessel, RV Tangaroa, and use SEAKIT International’s Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer to conduct further mapping.
Tsunami models and warning systems play a vital role in protecting millions of lives, and knowledge of the ocean floor will better enable us to utilise such systems.
Seabed 2030 was launched five years ago at the first ever UN Ocean Conference. With the second UN Ocean Conference fast approaching, we look forward to a period of reflection on how far we have come and how much we have achieved since 2017 – over a fifth of the world’s entire ocean now mapped. But we remain mindful of the task still at hand, and the global effort it will require in order to realise.
