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DESIGNING A WORLDCLASS VESSEL FOR RED SEA RESEARCH

KAUST selects naval architecture firm Glosten to design a new ship with advanced capabilities for Red Sea research

In keeping with its mission to conduct world-class marine research and support Saudi Arabia’s goals to study and protect marine environments, KAUST is investing in a state-of-the-art oceanographic research vessel (RV) to replace the university’s existing Thuwal RV. KAUST has selected the naval architecture company Glosten to design the ship. The new RV will provide advanced research capabilities for work in both shallow reef and deepwater environments, including a recon gurable deck for multipurpose jobs and equipment, and weather-hardy traits for managing the unique conditions of the Red Sea.

The near-22-year-old Thuwal RV, originally designed as a shing vessel for navigating the coastal waters of Australia, has served KAUST scientists for as many as 220 days at sea per year since 2013. However, the retro tted 34.7-meter-long RV is limited in the tasks and sea conditions it can handle. As KAUST expands its research ambitions for studying the Red Sea, a robust vessel with optimal functionality is required.

GLOSTEN

“Our team is excited to bring this new level of research vessel capability to the Red Sea region. Optimizing a vessel for KAUST for the specific conditions of the operating area and research needs requires a high level of engagement between our engineers and the KAUST team. This is when we are at our best.”

DONAL BRADLEY Vice President for Research

OUR INVESTMENT IN A WORLD-CLASS RESEARCH VESSEL UNDERSCORES A COMMITMENT TO FULLY SUPPORT OUR PARTNERS HERE IN SAUDI ARABIA AND AROUND THE WORLD, AND GIVE KAUST FACULTY, RESEARCHERS AND STUDENTS UNRIVALED INFRASTRUCTURE TO PURSUE THEIR EXCITING RESEARCH PLANS.

The Glosten-designed ship will bring increased stability and reliability for operating year-round in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, and areas with similar tropical waters and climatic conditions. Custom-designed features will meet a range of oceanographic missions, including seawater, sediment and biological sampling to the full depth of the Red Sea – some 3000 meters.

At 50 meters in length, the vessel will be signi cantly larger and offer a greater range of operational capabilities. The deck will be designed to deploy heavy equipment and sophisticated instrumentation for multiple disciplines, including geoscience, bioscience, marine science and oceanographic research interests. The RV will be equipped with an advanced positioning system to enable the deployment of long-duration remote and autonomous vehicles, as well as geoscience sampling systems.

The combined features will position KAUST to make new discoveries that enhance investigations and collaborations, and evolve knowledge about this young ocean that will, in turn, better support the Kingdom and its environmental and economic initiatives, including the NEOM, Amaala and Red Sea giga-projects. The ship will be the only advanced marine vessel of its kind that is uniquely built for and dedicated to conducting research in the Red Sea, and will be run by scientists and crew with expertise speci c to this body of water. The project is slated to be completed in 2026.

PARTNERING WITH JAPAN TO STUDY THE DEPTHS OF THE RED SEA

KAUST partners with Japan marine agency to advance Red Sea research

A new partnership between KAUST and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) applies shared expertise and new technologies to advance research in the shallow reef and deepwater environments of the Red Sea. The collaboration, made possible with funds from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as the KAUST Of ce of the Vice President for Research, provides a crossdisciplinary, multi-divisional platform for researchers to investigate and explore the Red Sea, which still has many areas to be discovered and better understood. Partnerships such as this highlight the importance of international collaboration. The KAUST-JAMSTEC initiative will help address critical data gaps about the Red Sea. Given the sea’s central role in the Kingdom’s giga-projects, it will also provide useful information to guide government regulations for its development and protection.

KAUST-JAMSTEC scientists completed their rst research cruise in February 2022 to the Al-Wajh platform, a reef complex located in the mesophotic layer of the Red Sea, which features active volcano vents, hot submarine springs, metal-rich brine pools, and a world of biological organisms uniquely evolved to survive there. Scientists from both teams are in the early stages of analyzing the data collected, which will provide a baseline of research to build on. Temperatures in the sea’s deep brine pools can exceed 70°C in some places — the threshold for most industrial scienti c electronics to function. Whereas KAUST instruments might corrode, melt or oat in such extreme conditions, JAMSTEC equipment is designed to withstand high-saline, high-temperature and highpressure environments, and perform in depths greater than 3000 meters – an essential attribute for performing integrated geo- and bioscience studies. JAMSTEC’s equipment includes remotely operated vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles and human-operated vehicles. KAUST crew with the Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab are experienced engineers, skilled in the deployment of equipment from the Thuwal research vessel, and have in-depth knowledge of the sea acquired from managing oceanic missions there for 13 years.

The partners aim to collaborate on multiple areas of research in the future, such as investigating the Red Sea’s tectonic features, seismic activity and oceanic crust. KAUST-JAMSTEC scientists and engineers also see an opportunity to develop a new generation of instruments designed speci cally for use in the Red Sea’s extreme environments. The collaboration could produce tools that would be valuable for both Japan and Saudi Arabia. With the information gathered to date and more to come, the team is building an open-source database of the Red Sea, utilizing arti cial intelligence to identify sh, corals, plankton and other living organisms. It will act as a multidisciplinary living library with information intended to educate future generations.

JAMSTEC

“Japan is pushing for more technological and bilateral research collaboration with Saudi Arabia. The partnership with KAUST is a great match, and the potential of getting interesting results or discoveries in the Red Sea is very high.”

LLOYD SMITH Director of the KAUST Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab

THE KAUST-JAMSTEC PARTNERSHIP ENABLES US TO CONDUCT MORE ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION OF THE RED SEA. WHILE KAUST BRINGS EXTENSIVE OPERATIONAL AND RED SEA EXPERTISE, JAMSTEC KNOWS HOW TO MAKE THE TOOLS THAT CAN SURVIVE IN THE RED SEA’S EXTREME MARINE ENVIRONMENTS.