NDLI: New Platform to Monitor the Environmental Impacts of Seafloor Mining

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Maeda, Nobuhiro Onishi, Yosuke Kato, Satoshi Yamazaki, Tetsuo
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	Various unconventional natural resources (e.g. seafloor massive sulfide, methane hydrate and manganese nodules) existing on and under the seafloor will possibly be mined in the near future. When mining these deep sea resources, it is necessary to monitor the environmental impacts of seafloor mining. Environmental impacts have been usually monitored by mooring systems or stations put on the seafloor. Mooring systems consist of floats, sinker and sensors. Their heights rang e from one hundred meters to several kilometers. In order not to entangle in the mining machine and the support cable, it is impossible to put the mooring systems within the distance of their heights from points of the operation safety. The stations consist of a frame and sensors. Their heights are about a few meters. Therefore, we are able to put the stations near the mining point, but we can’t observe the upper water layer. In this study, we have developed a new platform to observe the environmental condition near the mining point and the upper layers of the seafloor. The developed platform consists of frame, sinker, releaser, winch, battery and sensor assembly. Because the size of this is 2 × 2 × 2 m, we can put this near the mining point. The sensor assembly is moved from the seafloor up to 150 m by the winch. This platform can automatically observe the environmental condition for several months without external power supply by using the internal battery. Therefore, we can automatically observe the environmental condition near the mining point and the upper layer by using this new developed platform. The platform is also effective for environmental monitoring near deep-sea petroleum exploitation points.
Sponsorship	Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering Division
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9780791855355
DOI	10.1115/OMAE2013-10670
Volume Number	Volume 3: Materials Technology; Ocean Space Utilization
Conference Proceedings	ASME 2013 32nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
Language	English
Publisher Date	2013-06-09
Publisher Place	Nantes, France
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Natural resources Water Methane hydrate Seas Mooring Batteries Seabed Petroleum Cables Mining Sensors Manufacturing Safety Mining machinery
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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