Marine testing board for certification of ballast water treatment technologies

The proposed MTB is a process to expedite the implementation of international standards and regulations, and the subsequent testing, certification, and regulatory approval of new ballast water treatment ("control") technologies. This would expedite their acceptance in the global marketplace and reduce risks of shipowners following international regulation. The cost to test and evaluate and certify new ballast water treatment technologies for the global marketplace has been estimated to be less than US $1 per day per ship. It is time for the shipping industry, national regulatory bodies, and IMO to endorse the concept of the MTB and for the shipping industry to support a proactive cost-saving solution for sustainable shipping and protecting the environment from unwanted invasions of aquatic species with their potential negative impacts.     

Investigating the effect of ballasting by CaCO3 in Emiliania huxleyi: I. Formation, settling velocities and physical properties of aggregates

To investigate the role of ballasting by biogenic minerals in the export of organic matter in the ocean, a laboratory experiment was conducted comparing aggregate formation and settling velocity of non-calcifying and calcifying strains of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi. Experiments were conducted by making aggregates using a roller table and following aggregate properties during incubation for a period of 40 days. Size, shape, and settling velocities of aggregates were described by image analysis of video pictures recorded during the roller tank incubation. Our results show that biogenic calcite has a strong effect on the formation rate and abundance of aggregates and on aggregate properties such as size, excess density, porosity, and settling velocity. Aggregates of calcifying cells (AGG_CAL) formed faster, were smaller and had higher settling velocities, excess densities, and mass than those of non-calcifying cells (AGG_NCAL). AGG_CAL showed no loss during the duration of the experiment, whereas AGG_NCAL decreased in size after 1 month of incubation. Potential mechanisms that can explain the different patterns in aggregate formation are discussed. Comparison of settling velocities of AGG_CAL and AGG_NCAL with aggregates formed by diatoms furthermore indicated that the ballast effect of calcite is greater than that of opal. Together these results help to better understand why calcite is of major importance for organic matter fluxes to the deep ocean.     

Effect of mid-oceanic ballast water exchange on virus-like particle abundance during two trans-Pacific voyages

Ballast water is a potential source of invasive species, including viruses that target a variety of hosts. We sampled ballast during two trans-Pacific voyages and analyzed the efficacy of mid-oceanic exchange in reducing virus-like particle (VLP) abundance. Exchange did not significantly reduce virus abundance during the first voyage (P = 0.874), whereas it reduced viral abundance 3.9-fold from 1.8 × 10⁷ to 0.47 × 10⁷ VLP mL⁻¹ during the second voyage (P < 0.0001). Despite the impact of exchange during the second voyage, virus abundances were not significantly different between exchanged and unexchanged tanks upon arrival in Canada (P = 0.363) and Canadian port water samples (P = 0.502). Regressions between environmental parameters and VLP abundance uncovered negative correlations between salinity and viral abundance during one, and dissolved oxygen and viral abundance during the second voyage. In summary, ballast tanks are highly variable with respect to total virus abundance, and the efficacy of exchange requires investigation into the dynamics of specific viruses.     

Underwater glider modelling and analysis for net buoyancy, depth and pitch angle control

Underwater glider is an autonomous underwater vehicle that glides by controlling their buoyancy and attitude using internal actuators. By changing the vehicle's buoyancy intermittently, vertical motion can be achieved. Characteristics of glider motion include upward and downward movement in a saw tooth pattern, turning and gliding in a vertical spiral motion and gliding without using thrusters or propellers. This paper presents the modelling and identification on net buoyancy, depth and pitching angle of an underwater glider system. A ballast tank subsystem is considered appropriate for the identification process since it is the main parameter for the motion control. By selecting the ballast rate as the input, three aspects of the dynamics of a glider can be observed: buoyancy, depth of the glider and pitching angle. The MATLAB System Identification Toolbox^TM is used to obtain a mathematical model of the glider ballast-buoyancy, ballast-depth and ballast-pitching angle conditioning system. The best three parametric estimation models are chosen, and the results of the comparison between simulated and estimated outputs are presented. The information obtained from the modelling and identification approaches are used for USM's Underwater Glider Prototype controller design. The information observed during this procedure are utilised for optimisation, stability, reliability and robustness analysis of the underwater glider.     

Railway track inspection using GPR

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) inspect their railway tracks at regular intervals. The first step of track renewal planning is a geotechnical study. Inspection is focused on the thickness of the ballast, on subsoil material penetrating upwards into the ballast and on geotechnical properties of subgrade and subsoil materials. Up to now, the inspection has been done mainly by digging trenches at evenly spaced intervals and in locations of special interest. In order to evaluate the benefits and limits of GPR railway track inspections, three GPR surveys were carried out on three different railway lines. Data were acquired using a mobile system travelling at 10 km/h. Subsequent to radar data acquisition, trenches were dug. The positioning of some of the trench locations was based on preliminary GPR results in order to support the interpretation of GPR data. Only those trenches were available during interpretation of radar data. In addition, SBB performed their usual investigation programme. This provided an opportunity for checking the radar results in great detail.     

Biological controls on bacterial populations in ballast water during ocean transit

Bacteria (and viruses) numerically dominate ballast water communities, but what controls their population dynamics during transit is largely unexplored. Here, bacterial abundance, net and intrinsic growth rates, and grazing mortality were determined during a trans-Atlantic voyage. The effects of grazing pressure by microzooplankton on heterotrophic bacteria during transit were determined for source port, mid-ocean exchange (MOE), and six-day-old source port ballast water. When the grazer component was removed, bacterial abundances significantly increased. Additionally, we determined that the grazer-mediated mortality for ballast water originating from ports was greater than MOE water and that mortality decreased over time for the source port ballast water. This study shows that bacterial populations in transit are controlled by microzooplankton grazing. If these findings are representative of ballast water environments, they suggest that if the grazing component is selectively removed by various treatment methods, bacterial populations may increase; this could have environmental and human health consequences.     

Phytoplankton viability in ballast water from international commercial ships berthed at ports in Korea

We investigated the viability of phytoplankton from ballast water of international commercial ships berthed at the ports of Ulsan and Onsan, Korea. The incubation conditions used were temperatures of 13 °C to represent ambient water and 20 °C to represent the thermal optimum, as well as nutrients in ballast water, shipside water, and F/2 medium. Phytoplankton in new (∼7 days) and old (20 and 23 days) ballast water survived when incubated under the nutrients typical of shipside water and F/2 medium at 13 °C and 20 °C. Colonization process was mostly dominated by Skeletonema costatum, Cylindrotheca closterium and pennate diatoms (<10 μm in diameter). S. costatum and C. closterium were persistent during incubation time, whereas pennate diatoms dominated in the three types of media from doubling to last phase of growth. This study showed that bloom-forming and pennate diatoms appear to be the species most likely to become successfully established in the two ports.     

Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis shows that bacterial communities change with mid-ocean ballast water exchange

Ships carry ballast water for better stability and to control trim. However, the discharge of ballast water near ports is known to transport invasive species from one coastal area to another. The exchange of ballast water on the high seas is supposed to reduce such invasions of exotic species. In this study, we used denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to analyze the composition of the bacterial community in ballast water before and after such a mid-ocean exchange, and we also measured total bacterial counts. Our findings confirmed that the ballast water was replaced by the mid-ocean exchange, as indicated by the marked change in the composition of the bacterial community. There was also a significant decrease in bacterial abundance after the mid-ocean exchange. Finally, our findings support the incubation hypothesis, because the composition of the bacterial communities changed over time within the same ballast water.     

Continuous flushing of contaminants from ballast water tanks

The transport of non-indigenous species (NIS) with ship ballast water is a major environmental problem. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) have recommended that ballast tanks are flushed through with sea water to remove NIS contaminants. The flushing efficiency is studied using mathematical models and a scaled experimental model of a ballast tank. The density contrast between the ballast water and water used for flushing is important when the Froude number Fr(w)=U(w)/sqr rt|g(')|H < 1 (defined in terms of average horizontal flow U(w), reduced buoyancy g', and H the vertical dimension in the tank). When denser water is used to flush a ballast tank, from below, it efficiently displaces lighter ballast water; but flushing through with light water creates a buoyant gravity current which effectively short circuits part of the tank. When Fr(w)>1, the density contrast between the ballast water and water used for flushing is not important and flushing is controlled by a bulk Péclet number, Pe(w). For Pe(w)<1 perfect mixing occurs, while for Pe(w)>1 displacement flushing occurs. Laboratory experiments of flushing were performed using a model two-dimensional ballast tank employing dye attenuation to measure the whole concentration field and these experiments confirm the essential features of the mathematical models. The results of this study are discussed in the context of current IMO flushing protocols.     

Bacteriological examination of ballast water in Singapore Harbour by flow cytometry with FISH

In this study the concentrations of total bacteria, enterobacteria, Vibrio spp., and E. coli have been compared for ballast water samples taken from ships in Singapore Harbour. The cell concentrations were enumerated using FISH and flow cytometry. The data were highly variable, reflecting the many influences upon ballast water as it is utilized in the shipping industry. The concentration of bacterial species was determined as a proportion of the total concentration of cells for the ballast water sampled. For the ballast water sampled these concentrations were 0.67-39.55% for eubacteria, 0-2.46% for enterobacteria, 0.18-35.82% for Vibrio spp., and 0-2.46% for E. coli. Using FISH and flow cytometry, an informative determination of the bacterial hazards of ship ballast water can be made.