seafloor

Colt and I talk with James Gager with Seafloor about hydro surveying with Seafloors drones for mapping small bodies of water. 

Colt and I talk with James Gager with Seafloor about hydro surveying with Seafloors drones for mapping small bodies of water. 

By 2025, experts predict over half the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas. With a number of our freshwater resources on land receding, is it time to look to the ocean - or, rather, underneath it for fresh water?

Jay sits down with Brandon Dugan, the Associate Department Head and Baker Hughes Chair in the Department of Geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines, to find out.

Brandon Dugan tells us about an aquifer off the coast of New Jersey that could provide access to freshwater – if we dig deep enough. Jay taps into the advanced drilling technology Dugan and other researchers use to access these hidden freshwater reserves and assess them as a viable resource.

The find raises questions about water ownership and governance in uncharted territory, along with the need to value offshore water as much as we value offshore oil and gas.

At the tail end of this episode, our producer Erin Stephens returns with our first ‘Ask Jay’ segment.

Do you have a question about water for Jay? Let us know who you are, what’s on your mind, and where you’re based – by writing to ideas@whataboutwater.org. Voice memos are also welcome.

Today's good news: The US dedicates one billion dollars to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and there's still two-thirds of the seafloor left for us to discover! If you'd like to lend your voice to the Optimist Daily Update, send an email to: editorial@optimistdaily.com. Listen to the Optimist Daily Update with Summers & Kristy - Making Solutions the News!

Drones have become a huge topic of discussion in recent years. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the Predator drones that rose to fame during military action in Iraq to the commercial drones that are used to make aerial tours of small towns, to Amazon delivery drones, they’ve become present in many aspects of our lives. 

That’s why it should come as no surprise that drones are being used to study the oceans. How does that work? Remember, drones come in all shapes and sizes, including submarines and towed surface drones. They can also be fitted with sensors that can penetrate all the way to the ocean floor.

ThayerMahan’s SeaScout system is doing just that. Using its powerful sonar and other sensors, it is capable of producing detailed images of the ocean floor, so detailed it can make out individual cables. The company has recently partnered with the University of Connecticut to explore the state’s Thames River. The goal is to study the ecosystem of the river to learn how it is affected by all the ships that pass through the river, while also ensuring that those ships can operate without the worry of hitting any sort of obstruction.

There is also another reason and that is security for those ships. Many of them are massive freighters that haul fossil fuels from abroad, making the ships a tempting target for terrorists. These new drones and their imaging technology will be an important tool in verifying that there are no bad actors that could pose a threat to the ships nearby. 

On the commercial side of the drone world is Iris Automation which is working to develop frameworks and protocols to manage the drone traffic that is sure to only increase in the next few years. They are also working to develop drones to help in the distribution of the COVID vaccine. 

Yet, as always, there is a potential downside to be on the lookout for. That would be the potential of drones for spying. We of course know that drones have already been used to spy on and strike terrorists in the Middle East (with sometimes tragic results as civilians also are killed in those strikes). Is it really so difficult a leap to suppose that the federal government and local police departments might use that technology to spy on average citizens? Already, we’ve seen stories of people throwing bottles at police drones flying over their backyards in Ohio. 

We would be remiss to not include Amazon’s developing drone fleet. It seems ludicrous to think that those drones will only be delivering packages from the massive website to happy customers. Amazon is practically guaranteed to pack their drones with sensors in order to gain even more information about you and without your consent. They’ll then no doubt take whatever information they glean from that drone flyby to pitch new products to you or sell it to unknown third parties.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just trust all of these companies to use their massive technological capabilities for good, to help us better understand our world and how we can take better care of it? Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to concern ourselves with our governments spying on us and violating our rights? Why should we have to worry about Amazon sticking its nose into our business?

We shouldn’t. That’s why TARTLE exists. By signing up and securing your data with us, you prevent (or at least make it harder) for bad actors to get your data, sending them a message that we don’t want a world where technology is turned against us. You can help send a message that you want that tech used for the good of all and not just the few.

What’s your data worth? www.tartle.co