Mark Benfield aboard the Drill Ship Discoverer Enterprise with an Oceaneering Millenium Class ROV. Click image for larger view and image credit.
A Petroleum Helicopters (PHI) Sikorsky-92. This 19 person aircraft is commonly used to transport personnel and cargo offshore. Click image for larger view and image credit.
Using Industrial, Deepwater, Remotely Operated Vehicles to Census Planktonic Organisms
June 1, 2005 - May 30, 2006
Mark C. Benfield
Associate Professor
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences Louisiana State University
The waters over the outer Continental Shelves and Continental Slopes have been extremely poorly studied relative to shallower coastal environments. While our best research suggests that these oceanic environments contain a diverse assemblage of planktonic and nektonic, our understanding of what species live in these regions is limited.
A Problem of Access
The primary factor constraining access to these environments is the cost of mounting research cruises to these areas and the general paucity of available manned and unmanned submersibles to investigate these deep regions of our oceans. The United States operates the most capable research fleet of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in the world. Even so, it has few vehicles capable of exploring waters that are deeper than 500m. Available academic systems include: the RCV-150 (University of Hawaii: 914m); MaxRover Mk1 (NOAA-NURP: 1000m); Ventana (MBARI: 1850m); Tiburon (MBARI: 4000m); and the Jason II (WHOI: 6500m). These systems are widely dispersed and expensive to operate, which tends to limit the number of expeditions to the Slope Water. Thus, the central problem in studies of the water column fauna over the Continental Slope is one of cost-effective access to available and suitable exploration technology.
An Industrial Solution
The growing demand for petroleum has promoted exploration beneath waters of the Continental Slope utilizing specialized ROVs operated by companies contracted by major and independent petrochemical firms. Large numbers of these work-class ROV systems are in deepwater operation throughout the global ocean. In terms of their numbers and depth capabilities, industrial ROVs operated by just one company far eclipse the capabilities of the domestic research ROV fleet. These ROVs are routinely capable of working below 1000m and some can operate to depths of 5000m. Many are equipped with hydrographic sensors and additional imaging systems. Each day they must transit from the surface to seafloor work areas one or more times. In addition, a significant portion of their total time each day is spent parked in the water waiting for specific tasks. During these transit periods and idle times, their underwater cameras systems and CTD sensors are not typically utilized. These industrial ROV systems represent a tremendous potential scientific asset that could be directed towards studying the planktonic and nektonic organisms of the Slope Water.
An Academic/Industrial Partnership
The benefits of allowing researchers access to industrial ROVs on a time-available
basis have been recognized by the scientific community but there's a practical
problem. There are many different ROV operators working for large and small
energy companies. The potential demand from scientists wishing to obtain
data from these systems is enormous. This means that the time required to
negotiate access and disseminate data to multiple users would be a drain
on the resources of the commercial operators. The challenge of providing
coordinated access to the industrial ROV fleet was recognized by the National
Oceanographic Center in the U.K. and led to the development of
SERPENT (Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing Industrial Technology) 
.
SERPENT acts as a global clearing house that coordinates academic access to industrial ROV systems. Its mission is to increase access to cutting edge ROV technology for the world's science community and to progress knowledge and techniques of in situ experimentation, interaction with other research communities worldwide and to increase the general public's awareness of our marine resources. Industrial partners include: British Petroleum, ChevronTexaco, Subsea 7, Transocean, Oceaneering and others. Each of these corporations has committed to support scientific utilization of their ROVs during daily non-operational periods. Data are currently being gathered from waters over the Continental Shelves and Slopes around the world.
Exploring the Gulf of Mexico with Industry
Through SERPENT we have negotiated access to ROVs operating in the northern Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana and the southeastern Atlantic Ocean off West Africa. Operations in the Gulf of Mexico are conducted by British Petroleum/Oceaneering and ChevronTexaco/Subsea 7. These geographically-distant regions were selected because many similar taxa are likely to occur in both regions. Data from the West African waters are also of interest because they demonstrate that commercial ROV operations can open the door for scientific access to a geographically-remote area on a regular basis. That said, the primary focus will be on the Gulf of Mexico region because of LSU's close proximity and ready access to drillship operations in the Gulf. While there is potential, through SERPENT, for access to ROV data from other areas of the world, this is a pilot project designed to demonstrate the feasibility and value of an industrial-academic partnership.
By visiting offshore ROV operations and working with colleagues in SERPENT,
we receive raw video imagery collected by ROVs each day during routine operations
such as well pipe inspections. Additional video is collected on a time-available
basis or whenever they see something they feel we might be interested in.
Undergraduate students in my laboratory screen the ROV video to locate organisms.
These are stored as digital video and still images and are combined with
data on the location of the ROV, depth, time, and any other environmental
data. By late-March 2006, the acquisition and screening of video had just
begun in our lab. This summer (2006) we'll partner with the
Marine Advanced Technology Education Center (MATE) , to provide a summer intern
who will work with the ROV operators and our students to develop optimal ROV
survey strategies.
Images will be identified to the best of our ability and distributed to colleagues
around the world with specific expertise in the taxonomic groups we find. They
are also passed along to the SERPENT project for inclusion in their database. We're working to link our project to the Census of Marine Life and the
Census of Marine Zooplankton . Over time, we hope to develop a more complete picture of
the biodiversity of the plankton and nekton over the Continental Slope.
Working Safely Offshore
Working with the offshore petroleum industry is a very different experience for most scientists used to conditions on research vessels. In both environments, there are common safety concerns ranging from falling overboard, swinging loads, equipment suspended from cables under tension, and trip hazards. Safety is emphasized aboard research vessels through safety briefings and fire drills but its not uncommon to see people on deck wearing a variety of apparel, occasionally forgetting to wear their hard hat, steel-toed boots, float jacket, or gloves. Not so in an industrial setting.
In the petroleum industry, safety is paramount and it’s ingrained in everyone no matter what their job. Nobody goes out into a working environment without wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). Standard PPE consists of long-sleeved shirts and long pants - though most people wear coveralls, steel-toed boots, safety glasses, and a hard hat. Depending upon conditions, it’s common to wear protective gloves and hearing protection. There very good reasons for the PPE because a production platform or drilling rig contains hundreds of opportunities for injury if one is not careful and vigilant. In addition to the same factors at play on a research vessel, there are many more combustible or corrosive compounds present, hazards associated with boarding and embarking from helicopters or ships, and simultaneous operations, each with varying risks depending upon where you are on the structure. All jobs begin with a reconnaissance of your job site and careful planning of what steps and risks are associated with each stage of the operation. A job safety assessment is filled out and filed with the person-in-charge so that others are aware of what you’re doing and how your actions might affect other operations. Anyone, even a visiting oceanographer, can stop a job if they see unsafe behavior or activities with no adverse consequences to the person who intervenes.
Personal safety is paramount but protection of the environment by preventing spills and leaks is also emphasized. Most companies require a one day health, safety, and environment (HSE) class for all personnel working offshore. This includes scientists. In addition, the industry as a whole has mandated that all personnel working in the Gulf of Mexico complete a full day HSE course called Safe Gulf. With a Safe Gulf Class and HSE Training, you’re almost cleared to go offshore. Some companies also require helicopter underwater egress training/water survival (HUET) classes. This one-day class trains you to survive and escape from a helicopter ditching in the ocean. It combines classroom theory with practice in a helicopter simulator in a pool. While it’s a little unnerving to be dropped into a pool, submerged, and flipped upside down underwater, this class trains you to keep your head and bearings for long enough to escape from the most commonly-used industrial helicopters. I was fortunate to attend HUET training at the University of Louisiana’s excellent Marine Survival Training Center in Lafayette, Louisiana.
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