The first of the «large» SeaBee drones has arrived at NIVA! This marks an important milestone, placing SeaBee one step closer to field work and developing its infrastructure capabilities. The drone is a DJI M210, with a micasense Altum (5band MS) and 42mp RGB. We’re excited for all the possibilities and applications this drone will bring!
This application activity will start in 2023 and focus on water mass characteristics, including water transparency (relevant to the topic of ocean darkening), harmful algal blooms, and more.
NTNU, with their students, has already started activities on the pelagic aspect of the project. NIVA has not started as of early 2021, but has already take steps to buy equipment for use on FerryBox and aerial drones. There will be collaboration with NTNU and NIVA on the testing of this equipment to make sure it is ready for use even before 2023.
This particular application of SeaBee will have synergies through NIVA with the Nautilus project
We’ve received a mysterious box… Curious about what’s in it? Medyan Antonsen at NIVA, responsible for instruments and sensors for the SeaBee project, unboxed SeaBee’s first drone: A Mavic 2! He’s also the first drone pilot certified through the SeaBee project. Check out his videos where he showcases and explains each of the drone’s components.
The SeaBee Project’s official kick-off meeting took place from 23 to 25 June at Oscarsborg Fortress in Oslo and virtually, marking the start of the project and bringing all host institutions together for 3 days of discussion and workshops. Between 18 to 22 people participated live at the fortress and 10 to 15 joined in via Teams.
NIVA’s research director, Chris Harman, welcomed attendees and opened the workshop. “We’re proud to host and coordinate the SeaBee project, as it fits well into several of NIVA’s strategic goals with regards to blue growth, more efficient environmental monitoring, and creating cost-efficient solutions for research and monitoring,” he noted.
Seabee as concept was initiated during a meeting in April 2018 between NINA, NIVA, NR, and IMR in Trondheim to combine forces of each institutions’ own drone programs. NTNU, GRID-Arendal, SpectroFly and ASC were later invited for a joint proposal to the Research Council of Norway, with the infrastructure call submitted in October 2018.
Kasper Hancke, Senior Research Scientist at NIVA and SeaBee’s lead, guided participants through the 3 days of workshops and team building with the goal of transforming the SeaBee visions into actions.
