World Hydrography Day 2020 – with Lecturer Tim Scott from University of Plymouth

World Hydrography Day is celebrated every year on the 21^st of June, it highlights the importance of hydrography and why it is still relevant. The focus this year is on the key role hydrography can play in support of autonomous technologies. To mark the occasion, we interviewed Tim Scott, a lecturer in Ocean Exploration at the University of Plymouth .

 

1. Can you please tell us a little bit more about yourself? Your profession, background, and experience?  

 

Currently, I’m a lecturer in Ocean Exploration at University of Plymouth. I teach undergrad and postgrad students on the MSc Hydrography and BSc Ocean Exploration and Surveying pathways. In addition, I manage international research projects and PhD students. I’m also a consultant for CMAR (Coastal Marine Applied Research), Plymouth University’s in-house consultancy to address important issues in the coastal and marine environment.

 

I have a PhD in coastal geomorphology with particular interest in coastal evolution and coastal hazards. I started off my career in 2001 as an acquisition specialist in the seismic industry with WesternGeco and then moved into ROV-based geophysical survey with DeepOcean Norway.

 

I’m a passionate surfer and water lover.

 

2. World Hydrography Day (WHD) is an annual celebration to publicise the work of hydrographers and the importance of hydrography. Can you please tell us a little bit more about it? Why is this work so important?  

 

This day celebrates hydrography and its importance across industry, conservation, defence, and academic research. It supports the sustainable and safe management of our seas and underpins so many sectors of marine activity worldwide, but is often not recognised for its contribution.

 

At Plymouth, we are passionate about teaching marine science and hydrography and training the next generation of hydrographers. There is so much potential for exciting careers in all areas of hydrography, but it is not a subject area that students coming out of school are typically aware of. So for us at Plymouth, WHD is a great opportunity to get young people excited about hydrography and spark their interest in exploring it as a possible career option.

 

3. The focus this year is on the key role hydrography can play in support of autonomous technologies (e.g. aerial, surface, and underwater survey drones as well as autonomous ships). What are your thoughts about it?

 

It is really the hot topic for the moment. Autonomy in some shape or form has been around for a long time, but we are now really at a tipping point where the influence of unmanned marine survey and service platforms are starting to have a real impact on hydrography. Certainly from my academic research experience, which has recently been focussed on monitoring coastal response to extreme storms, surface and aerial unmanned survey platforms have become a vital tool for our rapid storm response capability. They facilitate collection of greater amounts of high-resolution geospatial data, more safety and cost effectively.

 

While the basic concepts of hydrography will never change, this could be a paradigm shift for how we work at sea and on the coast. Different skillsets are needed for this new world, with an increased demand for multi-skilled ‘swiss army knife’ field surveyors who can be engineers, surveyors, and mariners all in one. The change also drives a demand for skilled data scientists and programmers to deal with ever-increasing volumes of data and for autonomous system design.

 

4. Which innovations do you expect to see in this field in the next few years? 

 

I think one area where innovations are needed, and are happening now, is data science and communications. Unmanned platforms are either creating a lot of data or being used to transfer data. One bottleneck is the communication bandwidth with remote vessels but also managing and analysing very large datasets. The industry is going to need people with these new skillsets.

 

5. What is the most exciting part of the hydrography profession? 

 

For me, the most exciting part of hydrography is working with state-of-the-art technology as a tool to reveal new insights into our marine and coastal landscapes. These are environments that can now be revealed in outstanding detail and there is so much we can learn for the first time.

 

As a career, hydrography is a truly international industry filled with really passionate people. There are so many opportunities to travel, work with great people, and be at the forefront of new technologies.

 

 

6. What opportunities and threats do you see for the hydrographic profession? 

 

The challenge is always to adapt to change rapidly and effectively. Hence the relevance of the theme of WHD 2020. We have to change or mindsets and embrace change.

 

Changes always have upsides and downsides. The new reality may be less personnel offshore on vessels and more remote operations, but this can open opportunities within the hydrography industry to new roles less focussed on working offshore.

 

It will be a great period of innovation, with opportunities to explore exciting new ways to maximise the benefit of new technology for the sustainable management of our oceans.

 

7. What are you doing to educate the next generation of hydrographers and what can we (the business community / other stakeholders) do to help?  

 

At University of Plymouth, we are always trying to think one step ahead as our students move from university into a wide range of roles within hydrography and related fields. Cutting edge science is in the DNA of the marine sciences at Plymouth, but we have to work closely with industry to ensure our graduates are building the skillsets required for successful careers. It is the liaison with industry, and through being adaptable, that we feel we can offer the most relevant state-of-the-art education and training for our students.

Over the past few years we have built autonomy and unmanned survey into our courses, both through use of aerial drones and our fleet of unmanned surface vehicles. Through relationships with companies like Fugro, 4DOcean (XOcean), QPS, Valeport, Norbit and L3 amongst others, we have been begun to train students in the use of unmanned survey platforms. We plan to build on this further in the future.

 

We are always overwhelmed by the support we get from industry for our careers days. These are key relationships that help us remain relevant and produce high-skilled and employable graduates.