Sonardyne Helps Study Ocean Currents for Climate Insights
in the speed and strength of the AMOC, which will provide crucial data to inform climate predictions.The north-east Atlantic instrument was deployed from the RRS James Cook during the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP) research cruise, jointly led by SAMS and the National Oceanography Center (NOC) in August. The western instrument was deployed by SAMS oceanographer Dr Sam Jones during a cruise on board the RV Meteor, led by the German marine institute GEOMAR in September.SAMS oceanographer Dr Kristin Burmeister, co-chief scientist on the OSNAP cruise said: “This
NOC Partners with Ploughshare
The UK’s National Oceanography Center (NOC) has partnered with Ploughshare to enhance the commercial activity of the NOC’s trading subsidiary NOC Innovations.NOC Innovations signed a five-year agreement that will see Ploughshare provide technology transfer services to NOC. This partnership will see Ploughshare supporting NOC Innovations with capability and capacity to discover, liberate, and scale NOC’s intellectual property into multiple industries, by helping them to create licensing and spin-off products based on both novel and existing technology.NOC Innovations team supports and
Dr. Siddorn Tapped to Transform NOC Research Strategy
The National Oceanography Center (NOC) appointed Dr. John Siddorn as Chief Scientist and Director of Data, Science & Technology (DST), taking up the new position in July 2023.Dr. Siddorn joined the NOC in 2020 as Associate Director of Digital Ocean. He has championed the embedding of digital approaches to furthering science, including through the use of digital twins. He succeeds Professor Angela Hatton who is leaving the NOC after over six years in the role.Prior to NOC, Dr. Siddorn was at the Met Office where he was Head of the Ocean Forecasting R&D Department (OFRD) group and co-chair of
$56m Allocated to Refurbish Three British Research Ships
The National Oceanography Center (NOC) is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the scientific research ship RRS Discovery’s predecessor being designated as a Royal Research Ship (RRS), while the modern RRS Discovery becomes the first Research Vessel to be refitted at Babcock’s Rosyth facility, 35 miles away from the birthplace of the original vessel in Dundee.To mark this 100th anniversary, the current RRS Discovery will also join its ancestral inspiration, the original RRS Discovery in Dundee fromJune 2-4, 2023, where the past and present will stand in each other’s presence.During
NOC Scheduled for 31 Science Expeditions in 2023
The National Oceanography Center (NOC), home to RRS James Cook and RRS Discovery, is managing 31 global research missions in 2023.This will include missions to the Bay of Biscay where NOC’s Marine Autonomous Robotic Systems team will be trialling its fleet of AUV’s and gliders to test autonomous ocean research capabilities, an expedition to quantify deep sea ecosystem resilience in the Pacific, and a research mission to Norway to study the role nitrogen plays in Arctic biogeochemistry.Previous expeditions include the DY158 expedition which took place earlier this year and circumnavigated
Wave Overtopping System to Improve Coastal Hazard Forecasts
The National Oceanography Center (NOC) developed WireWall, a system designed to measure the speed and volume of overtopping water on a wave-by-wave basis in the field. The aim is to reduce uncertainty in overtopping forecasts and improve hazard warning systems.Previous field data has been obtained using large collection tanks which can only be deployed for short periods, and are only capable of obtaining data on the total volume of water that has overtopped during a storm, or a high tide event. The tanks used in previous field measurements can only be deployed on a few types of structures, such as
NOC Expedition Seeks Answers on Subsea Mining Impacts
Scientists from the National Oceanography Center (NOC) have embarked on a month-long research expedition from Costa Rica to the Central Pacific to understand the impacts of deep-sea extraction of polymetallic nodules on the seabed. These are hard rock like materials, highly enriched in metals found on the sea floor.The Seabed Mining And Resilience To Experimental impact (SMARTEX) project will provide the critical scientific understanding to reduce the risk of extracting these nodules in a 6 million sq km region of the central Pacific Ocean.The polymetallic nodules are highly enriched with metals
MATS, A New Uncrewed Platform for Offshore Wind
, positioning and data management firm UTEC, part of the Acteon Group, is targeting the offshore wind survey and inspection market with a new uncrewed surface vessel (USV).Torsten Marten, lead surveyor, UTEC, outlined the new design at the Marine Autonomous Technology Showcase (MATS), at the National Oceanography Center (NOC) in Southampton, UK, early November.It’s a 12m-long, “DP equivalent” catamaran design, developed to offer a stable platform for survey and inspection operations, using vessel-based sensors and an up to 3-tonne remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capacity including
Tech File: BORAbox Helps Collect Ocean Data
The BORA Blue Ocean Research Alliance, which includes National Oceanography Center (NOC) and Subsea7, launched the first in a series of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that contain the new BORAbox. The sensors are currently collecting data on Subsea7 vessels in the South Atlantic, Brazil, and further launches are planned in Norway and further afield including Australia.BORAbox, an integrated suite of sensors developed by NOC scientists, will measure an important aspect relating to the health of the ocean by establishing the total alkalinity – a measure of the water’s ability to resist a
February 2024
