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,
NOC Expedition Seeks Answers on Subsea Mining Impacts
in the extraction of metals and minerals on the seabed and how to do it.The expeditions runs from February 5 to March 26, 2023 from Costa Rica to the Central Pacific in an area called the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) at abyssal depths of almost 5,000 meters. SMARTEX is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and its project partners. Natural History Museum, British Geological Survey, Heriot Watt University, JNCC, (Joint Nature Conservation Committee), Liverpool University, SAMS (Scottish Association of Marine Science), University of Plymouth, University of Southampton.Image courtesy NO
BAS to Study Future Sea-level Rise in Antarctica
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) researchers are aiming to develop new and ambitious ideas to tackle critical global environmental challenges, such as global sea-level rise from Antarctica, with the help of new funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).NERC has awarded £2.3 million (about $2.8 million) to BAS for the new science program SURface FluxEs In AnTarctica (SURFEIT).SURFEIT, led by BAS and working with international partners, will improve predictions of future global sea level rise that is driven by loss of ice from Antarctica. The specific focus is on interactions
New Funding for Robot Fleet to Study Ocean Carbon Cycle
The UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) BIO-Carbon program is investigating how marine life stores carbon dioxide (CO2). Alongside the ship-based research in 2024 a fleet of autonomous robots, funded via NERC’s Net Zero Oceanographic Capability (NZOC) program, will collect data in a different way that is both low-carbon and novel in its approach to marine science.NZOC has been established to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions associated with ocean research which often takes place in remote and challenging environments. BIO-Carbon is an exciting and ambitious research
MTR100: Deep-sea Mining May Prove Pivotal in the Climate Change Discussion
out to better understand how ecosystems will respond to and recover from mining disturbance through a project called the Seabed Mining And Resilience To EXperimental impact, or SMARTEX. The collaboration will leverage analysis, modeling and vessels and marine robotic systems from the UK Natural Environment Research Council. SMARTEX’s work is unique in that its scope spans multiple decades. “I discovered information about the mining tests done in the late 1970s and had the idea of reinvestigating these so we could understand recovery processes over a reasonably long timescale of four decades
February 2024
