Welcome to the first issue of the 31st volume of The International Hydrographic Review (IHR).
The acquisition, processing, analysis and interpretation of data from all the world’s seas, rivers and lakes is facilitated by hydrography, which thus enables a comprehensive understanding of our waters and paves the way for their safe and sustainable use. This is also impressively demonstrated by each of the 15 papers in this issue. Be it the exploration of the impact of measurement uncertainty on digital bathymetric model quality, or the mapping of submarine landslide susceptibility or the investigation of the barriers that women prevent them from pursuing a career in the field of hydrography – this issue is once again packed with a variety of scientific research papers, technical reports as well as notes on the work of our hydrographic community.
The IFHS Student Award 2024 was awarded to Julia Swedenklef of the University of Plymouth (United Kingdom). We are delighted that she has accepted our invitation to present her award-winning work on the topic Slippery slopes in the South Sandwich Islands: A GIS based approach to submarine landslide susceptibility mapping in the form of an invited scientific article (pp. 12–27).
The present issue comprises a total of five peer-reviewed scientific articles: Bahareh Mohammadivojdan et al. explore the impact of measurement uncertainties on digital bathymetric models (pp. 28–50), which form the fundamental basis for safe navigation of waters. The authors present a processing pipeline for modelling these uncertainties, with a view to improving the quality of the resulting models. Emily Harrex & Emily Tidey present a concise analysis of the role of women in hydrography within the South-West Pacific region (pp. 52–64). Their research focuses on the underrepresentation of women in hydrography, with a focus on the barriers that hinder the career progression of women in this field. The performance of “Desktop in the Cloud” processing software is the subject of an investigation by Brian R. Calder & Brian Miles (pp. 66–74). This is particularly exciting in light of the fact that the processing of hydrographic data no longer relies exclusively on local computers. Instead, there has been an increasing tendency for individual processing steps or entire process sequences to be migrated to cloud-based solutions. In their scientific assessment, Andre A. Araujo & Nicholas Hedley also address the benefits of novel, innovative technologies for handling hydrographic data, in this case the advantages of a tabletop augmented reality interface for analytical 3D bathymetric data visualization (pp. 76–100). The study by Shivani Seepersad & Dexter Davis proposes a probabilistic maritime risk assessment model for the identification of areas with high hazard potential, such as narrow waterways and turning zones (pp. 102–118). This aims to provide guidance for the management of maritime safety in Small Island Developing States.
The most recent HYDRO Conference, organised by the German Hydrographic Society, held in November 2024, was a resounding success. This event, which was hosted on the Baltic Sea coast, saw hydrographic professionals from around the globe present the latest advances in hydrography and its impact on marine surveying, navigation, maritime safety, environmental protection and sustainable development. In this issue of the IHR, we are publishing four of these contributions as conference papers. Samuel Deleu & Marc Roche present the Kwinte area, a natural reference area for the quality control of multibeam echosounder bathymetry and backscatter measurements on the Belgian part of the North Sea (pp. 120–128). Xavier Lurton is proposing approaches that would simplify the assessment of the environmental impact of hydrographic echosounders (pp. 130–138). Cloud and AI technologies are revolutionizing hydrography, state Jann Wendt et al. and presenting TrueOcean, an ocean data platform contributing to this development. (pp. 140–146). Hans Visser presents the improvements to the Fugro Marinestar GNSS precise point positioning algorithm (pp. 148–151).
The latest issue of IHR concludes with five notes and technical reports. These include an evaluation of the potential of a new underwater time-of-flight laser scanning system (Annika L. Walter, pp. 152–164), an analysis of the challenges and solutions involved in harnessing private sector data for the Ocean Decade (Peter Burger & Laura Meyer, pp. 166–170), a report on hydrographic surveying in extremely extreme conditions (Barry Grinker & Ariel Tarcic, pp. 172–182), an investigation into the precision of hydrographic data collected in the Persian Gulf (Nader Pasandeh et al., pp. 184–194), and an overview of ocean bathymetry advancements (Murtaza Taak et al., pp. 196–204).
On behalf of the Editorial Board, I hope that you will enjoy reading this new issue of the IHR!
Dr Patrick Westfeld
Chief Editor, IHR