Celebrating highlights from the Oceans 2022 conference held at Hampton Roads, Virginia, from October 17-21.
ONC wins Compass International Award
ONC is honoured to be the 2022 recipient of the Compass International Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of marine science and technology. The award was presented to ONC during the Marine Technology Society (MTS) annual meeting at the OCEANS 2022 Conference.
MTS president Zdenka Willis said “ONC has delivered outstanding advancements in research, in development, design, education, and public understanding that has contributed to a new information-based blue economy and demonstrates the benefit of public and private investments in our marine technology enterprise.”
Joining the podium virtually, ONC president and CEO Kate Moran said she is “very proud to lead some of the best ocean engineers, scientists and technologists in the marine technology ecosystem.”
ONC presentations at #OCEANS2022
Innovation and new research frontiers are hallmarks of the ocean technology industry - making learning and knowledge building a top priority within ONC.
The OCEANS Conference is an opportunity to share our latest technological advances, services and solutions and learn from fellow leaders in the field. Meet our speakers this year.
Andrew Snauffer, Data Analytics & Quality Manager
Using AI as a data error detection time saver: hydrophones deployed throughout ONC’s observation platforms provide valuable information on the underwater soundscape. On occasion, device issues produce anomalous hydrophone files, which require a hydrophone expert to manually provide quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) for a large inventory of power spectral density plots or spectrograms. Drew Snauffer presented his team's work using machine learning to automatically detect errors in the spectrogram in order to minimize the need for experts to review all files.
A) and B) Regular spectrograms. C) and D) Anomalous spectrograms showing (C) temporal signal drop-outs and (D) frequency-specific device anomalies.
Ryan Flagg, Manager, Community Based Monitoring
ONC supports community-based monitoring for coastal communities and organizations across Canada. Ryan Flagg presented community-based methods for meeting community needs and ocean acoustic data collection.
A.J. Baron, Senior Project Engineer
Water column profiling strategies for oceanographic instrumentation are typically developed for autonomous moorings, without cabled connections to shore. ONC is in a unique position, requiring real-time data transmission and subsurface moorings. A novel solution has been developed by ONC that uses wi-fi and inductive charging to power and communicate with an instrument using a simple winch. This set-up keeps the size and costs low, and therefore supports the addition of profiling instrumentation to existing and future community observatories.
Adrienne Shumlich, GIS Specialist
Adrienne Shumlich shared two presentations, both available to view on StoryMaps:
Reza Amouzgar, Applied Science Specialist
Reza Amouzgar presented tsunami modelling results for communities in Northwest Vancouver Island to demonstrate the inundation, vulnerability, and hazard mapping services provided by ONC. Using a numerical modelling approach, the tsunami wave propagation and inundation were simulated using the FUNWAVE-TVD model which has been extensively used for tsunamis around the world.
Tsunami wave simulation: Nootka Sound Esperanza Inlet. Earthquake source: Cascadia Subduction Zone, Mw 9
Ben Biffard, Senior Scientific Programmer
ONC HydroCalhas developed a custom-designed small bench-top chamber to calibrate hydrophones, enabling fast, inexpensive calibrations—an essential part of the ONC’s device workflow to ensure high-quality data.
Ben Biffard described ONC’s system for calibrating hydrophones (devices that record underwater sounds) and how it integrates into the ONC data management archival and distribution system. These calibrations are an essential part of the ONC’s device workflow to ensure high-quality hydrophone data.
Screenshot of ONC HydroCal software.
Sean Tippett, Data Steward
Adding metadata to our live dive video footage: Sean Tippett presented his poster on remote operating vehicle (ROV) observation data contributions to the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS). His poster explains applying Darwin Core Archive biological data formats to annotations that identify marine life seen via the ROV camera feed during our operational maintenance expeditions. Future work will be to complete the Darwin Core Archive and complete the pipeline to OBIS export from our database onto the OBIS web portal.
