£4M Investment to Enhance Marine Robotics Research Capabilities
The UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has been awarded £4 million to bring next-generation sensing capabilities to its marine autonomous systems fleet to advance sustainable ocean science.The funding from the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC’s) Future Marine Research Infrastructure (FMRI) program will support three projects by leading scientists and engineers at NOC to develop advanced sensors targeting 10 different biogeochemical essential ocean variables, from physics to nutrients and carbon. These will be integrated into autonomous underwater vehicles
UK NOC's Study Challenges Role of Plankton in Ocean Carbon Storage Process
University of Southampton.The research was conducted as part of two major NOC-led initiatives, Controls over Ocean Mesopelagic Interior Carbon Storage (COMICS) and Carbon Uptake and Seasonal Traits in Antarctic Remineralisation Depth (CUSTARD). These projects were funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and theEuropean Research Council grant Advancing Novel imaging Technologies and data analyses in order to understand Interior ocean Carbon Storage (ANTICS).Over two expeditions, each lasting more than five weeks at sea, NOC scientists and international colleagues studied the
NOC Moves Forward with Funding for Subsea Sensor Tech
“Marine autonomy is a way to monitor more locations for longer than has previously been possible. As the platform technology advances so must the sensors available to them to make best use of new capabilities to deliver more data.”The funding, totalling £390,000, from the Natural Environment Research Council’s Future Marine Research Infrastructure (FMRI) programme, will cover sensor development, platform integration and testing.The sensors – conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pressure, pH and Eh – will all be solid-state, low-power and not require reagents,
Navigating a Safe Future for Us and Our Marine Environment
of our vessels and vessel systems.At the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), we’ve a goal to have net zero emission operations by 2040, 10 years ahead of wider UK net zero goals. It’s a tough challenge but one that we’re keen to tackle.In collaboration with the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), we’ve been conducting trials of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as an alternative fuel for our two research vessels, the RRS James Cook (delivered 2006) and the RRS Discovery (delivered 2013).The fuel we use is a major part of our carbon footprint. But there are challenges
New Record Set in Unmanned Vessel Data Collection
suited to very long endurance missions in the open ocean. Importantly, this will probably become much cheaper than sending manned, diesel-fueled ships.”The mission was part of the Future Marine Research Infrastructure (FMRI) program, funded by UK Research and Innovation’s Natural Environment Research Council (UKRI-NERC).Through the FMRI program, NERC is considering what mix of technologies (sustainably fueled ‘green’ research ships, autonomous robots fitted with novel marine sensors and the digital infrastructure required to optimize its use) will be required in the next decade
Project Trio Looks at the Sea Life, Carbon Storage Connection
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) BIO-Carbon programme announced funding a trio of projects that aims to investigate how marine organisms contribute to storing large amounts of carbon dioxide in the ocean. While marine organisms play a critical role in storing carbon in the ocean, recent evidence suggests that climate models are not fully accounting for their impact, which could hinder predictions of the ocean’s role in future carbon storage.Project 1:The PARTITRICS Project, using shipboard observations and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) this project will seek to answer how
Researchers Study the Fast Gulf Stream Currents
, and three tropical storms already being in development by the end of the expedition, the team were able to find a weather window to deploy most instruments before encountering high winds on the last day.The C-Streams project is a four-year UK-US collaboration that is supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF). Researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, the University of Southampton, the University of Liverpool, the Scottish Association of Marine Science, the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Miami are involved in this
RRS Sir David Attenborough Gearing Up for First Antarctic Science Cruise
ship is also experimenting using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) for the first time, as part of British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) efforts’ to reduce its carbon emissions.The high-profile vessel, the U.K.’s largest commercial newbuild for over 30 years, was delivered to Natural Environment Research Council and BAS by Cammell Laird Shipbuilders in 2021. BAS undertake vital research in the polar regions, leading in polar science and polar operations, addressing issues of global importance and helping society adapt to a changing world.After the trials are complete, the ship will head back
$56m Allocated to Refurbish Three British Research Ships
stand in each other’s presence.During her ten years on the sea, the current RRS Discovery has travelled 227,554.21 nautical miles, taking part in 56 expeditions to explore the world's oceans.Babcock’s International Rosyth shipyard was recently awarded $56 million by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to maintain its fleet of scientific research vessels – including the RRS Discovery, RRS James Cook and RRS Sir David Attenborough. RRS Discovery will be the first to undergo a refit at Babcock’s Rosyth facility in Fife,
February 2025
