Client Needs: A client south of the Mason-Dixon Line needs to pinpoint a 50 mile pipeline in XY&Z dimensions.  It’s a 16 inch, ferrous pipe believed to be buried under about 3 feet of sand.  The water depth is 3-9 feet. ASI’s Solution: Aqua Survey would trailer a shallow draft survey vessel to a boat launch near the survey area. Using Hypack software on our Panasonic Toughbook for track and control, a vessel-mounted RTK-DGPS system for positioning, we would tow

Whenever we deploy our inflatable Rossfelder barge, it’s amazing to think that Jacques Cousteau’s son, Phillipe, used to go bombing around the South Pacific with it tucked away in Cousteau’s seaplane, the Flying Calypso. When I watch our field techs using one of Andre Rossfelder’s vibracore units, I think about some of the James Bond-like stories Andre told me about his youth, including his attempts to assassinate Charles De Gaulle. Andre was a fascinating man. If you have a few

It’s been a couple of years since Andre Rossfelder passed.  Before he died, he shared with me incredible stories of his past life.  I had known Andre because of the sediment vibracoring systems he had invented and we found so practical to use.  Although Andre died recently many governments and individuals wanted him dead long before then. Now if you don’t have a few minutes to read about Rossfelder’s many brushes with death and his amazing accomplishments, that’s ok.  But

Prepared to die: Andre Rossfelder played a key role defending his homeland of French Algeria during WWII’s Operation Torch. Seventeen, tied to a post, firing squad ready, he was prepared to die for his country, but the fascists never fired.  Andre Rossfelder had dodged what seemed his inevitable demise. A life defining moment for many, for Andre it was just another scrape with death. Question: What does a device considered to be the most effective technology to collect sediment cores

To hundreds of coal power-plant facilities across the United States, 4/17/18 is D-Day. The EPA published its final rules (April 17, 2015) governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals produced by electric utilities. Where these impoundments are no longer in use, the rules provide a somewhat less strict set of requirements. In order to take advantage of the special rules applicable to inactive Coal Combustion Residuals surface impoundments, the final closure must be completed by April 17, 2018. There are

How did tobacco leaves and tobacco beetles, both New World species, end up in the body cavity of the mummy of Ramses II, a man that lived in Egypt and died in the year 1213 B.C.? Many of you will remember Dominique Gorlitz’s 2007 Abora III expedition, in which he attempted to sail a prehistoric-style reed vessel across the Atlantic from New York to Spain. Aqua Survey enjoyed the opportunity of supporting the expedition as its sailors trained here in

Pictured: Former “Brownfields Site” – Brooklyn Botanic Garden. About 20 years ago, we had a delicate job to do: Carry in our vibracoring equipment and sampling platform past centuries old Japanese statues and then collect sediment cores amongst priceless snow lanterns in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. Having been an ash dump throughout the 1800’s, this unsightly moonscape had been repurposed in 1914 into the oldest Japanese-style garden in the United States.  Unwittingly, the ash dump had become

Follow an active criminal investigation as it happens in real time.  Premieres January 5th. View sneak peak here. Key evidence is missing and a possible killer is on the loose.  What happens when you pit geophysical wit against the mind of a killer?  Due to an iron-clad non-disclosure agreement, we can’t tell you how that ended up, but trust me, sometimes life is stranger than fiction. Aqua Survey was recently involved in Season 1 of a new Discovery Channel series. 

Our Marine Geophysics Team One (MGTO) has just returned from a several month deployment.  One of their specialties is using our high-powered electromagnetic metal detection system ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle).  We use advanced geophysics to locate dumped, abandoned, secreted, lost and sometimes forgotten metal objects such as: Treasure (Spanish Galleons along Florida’s Treasure Coast), Weapons (Amityville top-brake 38) and UXO (unexploded bombs in the Caspian Sea), Autos (Passaic River, NJ). Using one of our ROV geophysics platforms allows us to

ASI’s last Lunch & Learn Tour took us to dozens of clients nationally.  The positive feedback made the thousands of miles worthwhile. This year we are offering a new collection of short videos that will show you what we have been up to for the past year.  As always, we will buy pizza for your team.  During our last tour season we were not able to visit with all of the folks who requested one.  To try to better manage

It’s not every day that you get invited to be an on-camera participant at a media event. Aqua Survey’s president, Ken Hayes, was invited to talk about what his company is doing to help their client Hill International make Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Living Breakwaters on Staten Island (New York City) a reality.  Utilizing a 60 million dollar design budget, the goal of this project is to reduce wave action and coastal erosion along the island’s shoreline in the Tottenville section,

There is a lot of discussion as to whether New York City should dredge in Gravesend Bay, just south of where Aqua Survey documented the presence of a huge pile of unexploded ordnance (UXO). The UXO is right under the Brooklyn side of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Dredging needs to be performed to provide access to a proposed waste transfer station in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. We used Side Scan Sonar to define the UXO piles near the Verrazano Bridge.  Most believe the

The 2014 Sediment Symposium at the Liberty House Restaurant located in Jersey City goes down in the record books as one of the best events of the year! Nine highly qualified speakers engaged the audience with the following topics: • Alex Lechich, Author, A Storm in Port: Keeping the Port of New York and New Jersey Open speaking on the Historical Perspective of Sediment in the NY/NJ Harbor • Steve Panter, Sr. Consultant, Fleming-Lee Shue, speaking on Exploratory & Graphical

What is that?  What are they looking for?  Are they looking for bombs?  During the month of December a jet helicopter towing a 30-foot wide glider was watched by thousands of Florida’s Treasure Coast beach-goers. The Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Pierce knew what our helicopter was doing as did several historic shipwreck enterprises.  Aqua Survey was using a new technology called a Potassium-Vapor Magnet Gradiometer to survey about 70 square miles of coastline and near-coastal waters for Horned

On a recent layover in Thailand to continue our work with UXO (unexploded ordnance) in Laos, a few of us at ASI seized the opportunity to venture outside of Bangkok for a day.  What we found was the Damnoenssaduak floating market.  Consisting of an intricate network of canals, it’s a writhing medley of commerce where everything from exotic fruits to touristy kitsch are hawked daily. Named after a historical canal of the same name, the original Damnoenssaduak was constructed under