Scientists Install Autonomous Lab off Norway

Scientists of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research have developed a modular multidisciplinary seafloor observatory. The new modular ocean floor observatory, MoLab of GEOMAR (Germany), consists of one master lander, three satellite landers, three eddy correlation modules and two mooring modules. The MoLab will be able to measure chemical, geological, biological, and physical parameters over the course of several months. The MoLab Installation will be placed over a coldwater coral reef off the coast of northern Noraway. “We want to find out why the corals grow at this specific place and what the impact of climate change on the corals will be “, Dr Olaf Pfannkuche, chief scientist of the cruise that will send MoLab down, said in the press release. MoLab will measure the basic conditions for the growth of the corals and investigate the interactions within the reef's ecosystem. MoLab will measure currents, tides, water temperatures, salinity, nutrients, and the consumption of oxygen in and around the reef. Cameras will observe the reef continuously. The center of the lab is the communications center where acoustic signals are sent out to other segments in the system as well as to scientists topside who will be monitoring the lab. “Thus for the first time we will be getting a synchronized and coherent data record from several measurement devices at the ocean floor", explains Dr Pfannkuche. MoLab will enable scientists to investigate the interaction of multiple factors on the ocean floor and in the bottom water layer inexpensively, flexibly and long term. “No process in the ocean stands alone. The topography of the ocean floor influences currents, currents influence the distribution of nutrients and thus biology, organisms build up the ocean floor anew after their deaths. If we want to make progress in research about global change we have to consider all these multiple interactions”, said Pfannkuche.