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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	EP/F066767/1
Title	Nature in Engineering for Monitoring the Oceans (NEMO)
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Renewable Energy Sources(Ocean Energy) 5%; Renewable Energy Sources(Wind Energy) 5%; Not Energy Related 85%; Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Enhanced oil and gas production) 5%;
Research Types	Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields	ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (General Engineering and Mineral & Mining Engineering) 25%; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 65%; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences) 10%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Professor G (Gwyn ) Griffiths No email address given National Oceanographic Centre, NERC
Award Type	Standard
Funding Source	EPSRC
Start Date	03 July 2009
End Date	30 September 2012
Duration	38 months
Total Grant Value	£467,995
Industrial Sectors	Environment
Region	South East
Programme	Cross-Discipline Interface, Materials, Mechanical and Medical Eng
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Professor G (Gwyn ) Griffiths , National Oceanographic Centre, NERC (99.997%)
	Other Investigator	Dr JIR (James ) Blake , School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton (0.001%) Dr SW Boyd , School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton (0.001%) Dr AJ Murphy , School of Marine Science and Technology, Newcastle University (0.001%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract	There is a relentless drive from the offshore oil and gas industry to enable exploration and production from deeper parts of the world's oceans to help meet demand for energy - within a decade the need will be for wells in depths of over 3000m. Meanwhile, several countries are evaluating the potential of mineral resources on the deep sea floor as easily-mined areas on land become depleted. Economically important metals such as manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt form as nodules, widely dispersed, especially between 4000 and 6000m depth. In parallel, marine science is increasingly looking towards the research challenges of the deep oceans. The Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology summarizing statements to their 'Investigating the Oceans' inquiry stated, "During this inquiry, witness after witness has told us that the deep oceans are absolutely crucial to the future of the earth and the planet" (4 July 2007). For example, we have so little knowledge of the ecosystems and species diversity at great depths; our knowledge of deep ocean currents and their interaction with topography is rudimentary - and yet these deep currents are so important, for example, as the 'return' leg of the heat-carrying surface circulation in the North Atlantic; and there are processes at subduction zones and spreading ridges that we still do not understand.What all of these drivers have in common is the need to be able to explore, measure, sample, survey, and intervene in the deep oceans. Today, the technology to do so is expensive, cumbersome and of limited performance. The engineering needed to resist pressures of 6000 tonnes per square metre and more leads to heavy vehicles that travel at slow speeds and have limited agility and manoeuvrability. Contrast this with the structure, weight, speed and agility of marine animals, even those that live in the deep oceans.In this project, our aims are to find and synthesizenovel design and implementation concepts for deep-diving and agile unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) to meet offshore industry, environmental monitoring and scientific research needs based on inspiration from marine organisms to achieve increased functionality, lower weight and energy requirements and lower capital and operational costs
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	15/10/08