The historic Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl set sail for San Francisco from the Port of Seattle on Monday, marking the end of and another stop on the to support a sustainable future at sea.

The ship, built in 1914, boasts three towering masts and hails from Bergen, Norway. During the inaugural One Ocean Week Seattle, organized by , it docked at Pier 66 to welcome attendees and members of the public aboard to explore and learn.

The drew hundreds of people to Seattle to discuss marine ecosystems, the seafood industry, shipping and renewable energy, and more. 91探花 scientists joined policymakers, educators and industry leaders to define and address priorities in stewardship and ocean science.

, a 91探花affiliate professor and research scientist at the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels, served as a panelist on the 鈥淐oast to Coast Collaboration in Research鈥� aboard Statsraad Lehmkuhl on Friday morning.

Moore contributed her expertise as a marine mammal ecologist to help launch the in the Pacific Arctic in 2010, leading to an international effort to establish a network of observatories in the Arctic to track ecosystem health amidst physical changes to the region.

The panel, part of a series hosted by , offered a chance to discuss shared goals as melting ice opens the Arctic up to more traffic.

鈥淚t was an important opportunity for international collaboration and public engagement regarding rapid ecosystem changes in Arctic, and local, waters,鈥� Moore said.

, a 91探花professor of mechanical engineering, helped lead a 鈥渂ehind the scenes鈥� lab tour hosted by the , which joins researchers at UW, Oregon State University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

During the tour, researchers showcased marine energy monitoring projects at the , including videos and sonar documenting interactions between marine life and tidal energy turbines, sensors to detect underwater collisions, and systems to monitor how much noise is produced by the devices that help harness energy from waves and currents.

鈥淭hese tools help us identify and minimize environmental effects associated with harnessing energy from waves, tides and rivers,鈥� Polagye said.

, a 91探花principal research scientist of aquatic and fishery sciences participated in a panel discussion, where he shared his work on habitat in , which borders downtown Seattle. Toft鈥檚 lab studies how shoreline development impacts habitat value for young salmon.

鈥淎lthough the shorelines of Elliott Bay have been heavily modified, restoration efforts have had positive results,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he panel gave us a chance to discuss the importance of maintaining a healthy shoreline along a major urban working waterfront.鈥�

Despite the density of human activity along the shores of Elliott Bay, these waters are home to key species, including kelp, orcas and salmon. Maintaining functionality without losing habitat is a challenge, requiring input from various stakeholders, and creativity.

, a coastal hazards specialist at , provided an update on observed and projected sea level rise during a Friday workshop bringing together coastal managers and tribes around the Puget Sound region.

鈥淭he opportunity to meet in person with that many people who all came for the workshop was invaluable,鈥� he said.

To connect with a 91探花expert in ocean or environmental science, contact Gillian Dohrn in 91探花News at gdohrn@uw.edu.

Harvesting power from the ocean, through spinning underwater turbines or bobbing wave-energy converters, is an emerging frontier in renewable energy.

Researchers have been monitoring how these systems will affect fish and other critters that swim by. But with most available technology, scientists can get only occasional glimpses of what’s going on below.

So a team at the 91探花 created a mechanical eye under the ocean’s surface, called an Adaptable Monitoring Package, or AMP, that could live near renewable-energy sites and use a series of sensors to continuously watch nearby animals. On Dec. 13, the researchers put the newest version of the AMP into the waters of Seattle’s Portage Bay for two weeks of preliminary testing before a more thorough analysis is conducted in Sequim, Washington.

“The big-picture goal of the AMP when it started was to try to collect the environmental data necessary to tell what the risks of marine energy were,” said , a 91探花associate professor of mechanical engineering and the director of the , a research collaboration between the UW, Oregon State University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “But we ended up with a system that can do so much more. It’s more of an oceanographic Universal Serial Bus. This is a backbone, and you can plug whatever sensors you want into it.”

Paul Gibbs and mechanical engineering doctoral student Emma Cotter watch the newest AMP during a preliminary test in a saltwater pool. Credit: Kiyomi Taguchi/91探花

The newest member of the AMP family has the biggest variety of sensors yet, including an echosounder, which uses sonar to detect schools of fish. It also will contain the standard set of instruments that all previous AMPs have supported, including a stereo camera to collect photos and video, a sonar system, hydrophones to hear marine mammal activity and sensors to gauge water quality and speed. This new system also does more processing in real time than its predecessors.

“We want the computer to not just collect data, but actually distinguish what it sees,” said , a 91探花doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “For example, we’d like to program it to automatically save images if sea turtles swim by the AMP.”

This new AMP will get its first taste of life outside while hanging off the 91探花‘s research dock. That way, the team can check all the sensors for any potential problems before the AMP goes to the in Sequim for a suite of tests.

“We’re going to be looking at quite a few different questions in Sequim,” Cotter said. “First we’ll look at how well we can track and detect fish. Then once a small tidal turbine is deployed, we’ll be monitoring that. Will we be able to discriminate targets close to it or detect animals interacting with the turbine?”

The team also has developed additional AMPs that are more specific to other types of oceanographic research. Since early October, an AMP has been surveying sea life off the coast of Hawaii while riding aboard a yellow metal ring, called the , through a , the U.S. Department of Energy, University of Hawaii and the company Fred. Olsen.

“They were interested in what happens if whales and sea turtles encounter the mooring lines that connect the Lifesaver to the seabed,” Cotter said. “The best way to answer that question is with an AMP.”

The Lifesaver is a wave-energy converter 鈥� a device that converts the bobbing of waves into electricity 鈥� that powers this AMP. And for the days when the sea is calm, the team powers the AMP from a battery.

“This is the first example of using wave energy to power oceanographic sensors,” Polagye said. “Previously people have collected wave energy and sent it back to shore. But this AMP is completely self-reliant. Marine energy is not just coming in the far future. It’s happening right now.”

The research group is also working on a vessel-based version of the AMP, which will ride aboard APL’s newest research vessel, . The team plans to test tidal turbines on the boat, so the vessel-based AMP will let the researchers see if anything happens to fish that are close by.

Now the team hopes to commercialize the AMP platform through a 91探花spinout company called . That way people can purchase AMPs with sensor packages that are specific to their research goals.

Other members of the AMP team include , assistant director of defense and industry programs at APL; , and , mechanical engineers at APL; and and , research engineers in the 91探花mechanical engineering department. This research was funded by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center and the U.S. DOE Water Power Technologies Office. Emma Cotter is supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

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For more information, contact Polagye at bpolagye@uw.edu.

The robot will deploy instruments to gather information in unprecedented detail about how marine life interacts with underwater equipment used to harvest wave and tidal energy. Researchers still don’t fully understand how animals and fish will be affected by ocean energy equipment, and this instrument seeks to identify risks that could come into play in a long-term marine renewable energy project.

“This is the first attempt at a ‘plug-and-socket’ instrumentation package in the marine energy field. If successful, it will change the way that industry views the viability of environmental research and development,” said , a 91探花 assistant professor of mechanical engineering and one of the project’s leaders.

The 91探花research team tested the Millennium Falcon and the instruments it transports, called the , underwater for the first time in January in a deep tank on campus. Researchers will continue testing in Puget Sound under more challenging conditions starting this month. They hope this tool will be useful for pilot tidal- and wave-energy projects and eventually in large-scale, commercial renewable-energy projects.

“We’ve really become leaders in this space, leveraging 91探花expertise with cabled instrumentation packages like those developed for the . What’s novel here is the serviceability of the system and our ability to rapidly deploy and recover the instruments at low cost,” said , an ocean engineer at the 91探花.

The instrument package can track and measure a number of sights and sounds underwater. It has a stereo camera to collect photos and video, a sonar system, hydrophones to hear marine mammal activity, sensors to gauge water quality and speed, a click detector to listen for whales, dolphins and porpoises, and even a device to detect fish tags. A fiber optic cable connection back to shore allows for real-time monitoring and control, and the device will be powered by a copper wire.

The breadth of sensors and various conditions this instrument can measure is unprecedented, researchers say. The tool also is unique for its ability to attach to most types of underwater infrastructure, ranging from tidal turbines to offshore oil and gas rigs. This allows researchers to easily deploy the instrument far offshore and recover it quickly at a relatively low cost compared with other approaches.

“It could be a first step toward a standardized ‘science port’ for marine energy projects,” Polagye said.

This speedy deployment and recovery — sometimes in rough seas — is possible because the instrument fits inside a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, that can maneuver underwater and drop off the instrumentation package at a docking station integrated onto a turbine or other existing subsea infrastructure.

The vehicle is about the size of a golf cart, and the research team outfitted the off-the-shelf underwater surveying machine with five extra thrusters on an external frame to give it more power to move against strong currents. Actuators on the vehicle latch the monitoring instruments onto a subsea docking station, and then the Millennium Falcon can disengage, leaving the instruments in place, and travel back to the water’s surface.

The shape of the monitoring package resembles an from the original “Star Wars” trilogy. (The researchers are mum on whether their Millennium Falcon can make the in less than 12 parsecs.)

This project is a collaboration between researchers in mechanical engineering and the Applied Physics Laboratory, within the larger , which is a multi-institution organization that develops marine renewable energy technologies through research, education and outreach. The center and the Applied Physics Laboratory recently from the U.S. Navy to develop marine renewable energy for use at its facilities worldwide.

Development of this environmental monitoring instrument was prompted by a long-running tidal energy pilot project with the Snohomish County Public Utility District in Admiralty Inlet that recently was . Going forward, researchers expect to use the same device to monitor marine-energy projects cropping up around the world and help to reduce the cost of future developments.

“Snohomish PUD was really at the forefront of projects grappling with this problem of monitoring a tidal turbine in deep, fast moving water. But as other projects in the U.S., Europe and Canada have faced similar monitoring scenarios, the instrumentation package is shaping up as a strong candidate to meet their needs,” Polagye said.

Other lead researchers are 91探花mechanical engineering graduate students and .

The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the Snohomish County Public Utility District and the UW.

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For more information, contact Polagye at bpolagye@uw.edu or 206-543-7544 and Stewart at andy@apl.washington.edu or 206-221-8015.

The U.S. Navy has committed to get half of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. One element of that strategy will be looking to extract energy from tides, currents and waves.

The 91探花 is helping to reach that goal with an $8 million, four-year contract from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, or NAVFAC, to develop marine renewable energy for use at the Navy’s facilities worldwide.

The goal is to generate energy from the surrounding water at coastal bases, islands or overseas facilities in order to lower costs and increase reliability of the power supply. Forming a partnership with NAVFAC will allow the 91探花to develop tools for the Navy to predict and tap energy at its various marine locations.

“We are advancing existing technologies and concepts so they will perform well at naval facilities and help reach their energy targets,” said lead investigator , an engineer at the UW’s . He will present information about the project Oct. 25 in Seattle at the ‘s annual meeting.

The team has a three-pronged strategy to develop marine energy at naval facilities, which differ from the prime spots now under investigation for commercial marine energy extraction.

During the past three months 91探花mechanical engineering faculty and graduate students have made 3-D printed prototypes of tidal turbines that they will test in the UW’s and with computer modeling studies.

Next they will take the most promising designs and build larger-scale models, about 3 feet across, to test in moving water in 2016. One aim of the project is to develop fast, low-cost ways to evaluate the energy potential at prospective sites.

“We’ve learned that you can’t rely on modeling,” Stewart said. “You need in-water verification of marine energy resources.”

This project is not focused on one specific design but instead will look at different technologies.

“The idea is to conduct the research that’s needed to fill the gap between where the technology is now and where it needs to be for the Navy to take maximum advantage of the currents, tides and waves, as well as wind,” Stewart said.

The third aspect of the project is developing low-cost monitoring technology to make environmental monitoring at naval facilities more straightforward.

The team will soon begin to modify the Applied Physics Laboratory’s research vessel to test small-scale marine energy prototypes. The boat, a catamaran barge, was initially built for research on underwater sound. It is well suited for marine energy work because it is stable and allows researchers to lower equipment off the front of the boat, into water undisturbed by the boat’s wake.

“It’s a pretty big opportunity for us to work on the optimization problems associated with getting these to work in lower-energy environments,” said collaborator , a 91探花assistant professor of mechanical engineering. He is leading the development of the 3-D prototypes and the environmental monitoring technology.

, an oceanographer at the Applied Physics Laboratory and associate professor in civil and environmental engineering, is developing wave power devices and low-cost technology to measure the amount of potential wave and tidal energy at various sites.

“Really what we’re trying to do is develop a new sector of the maritime industry,” Stewart said.

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For more information, contact Stewart at 206-221-8015 or andy@apl.washington.edu, Polagye at 206-543-7544 or bpolagye@uw.edu and Thomson at 206-616-0858 or jthomson@apl.washington.edu.

Researchers will present the project in Seattle at the ‘s annual meeting. Reporters can attend the poster session Saturday, Oct. 25 from 4 to 7 p.m. in the foyer.