Tuesday, April 22, 2014

50 Years of Excellence: Advances in Marine Technology


Drew Michel, the President of the Marine Technology Society, sums up the state of marine technology today in the book, Advances in Marine Technology, and brings up an important point few people on the planet stop to ponder:

The ocean is 70% of our planet.

How are we exploring those vast waters? Watch the footage of search mission for flight MH370 - a very large airplane - suddenly become as hard to find as a specific grain of sand on the beach, and it dawns on viewers how little we know about our ocean.

"When I entered this exciting arena in 1966 some commercial divers in the offshore oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico were still using "heavy gear" (brass helmets, canvas suits and lead boots) and the best form of ship-to-shore communications was single sideband radio, affected by everything from the weather to the time of day," points out Michel in the book.

Dive into the history of the extreme expeditions, such as James Cameron's multi-million dollar journey to the Mariana Trench, or learn about current programs that are bringing Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) that cost only hundreds of dollars into the hands of school kids.

Get your copy here