It may have caused huge disruption to air travel – and coated cars in ash across Britain – but the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010 was an opportunity not to be missed for scientists at the National Oceanography Centre looking at how the supply of iron to the ocean affects atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
For most of us, ferries are simply a convenient means of getting from A to B on a short break or family holiday, but for scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, they have proved to be an invaluable source of information about harmful phytoplankton growth in the English Channel.
A new study has found that turbulent mixing in the deep waters of the Southern Ocean, which has a profound effect on global ocean circulation and climate, varies with the strength of surface eddies – the ocean equivalent of storms in the atmosphere – and possibly also wind speeds.
Two ocean-going unmanned vehicles designed for long endurance scientific research were showcased at the National Oceanography Centre to potential users from across the marine scientific community, defence industry and broader marine industries.
The National Oceanography Centre’s remarkable RAPID project has reached a landmark ten years of continuous scientific measurement and knowledge advancement of a key component of the climate system.
The National Oceanography Centre has been involved in a major new survey of the seafloor that has found that even in the deepest ocean depths you can find bottles, plastic bags, fishing nets and other types of human litter.
Scientists in the Southern Ocean have set up a blog – A Drop in the Ocean that details their research into ocean mixing. Dr Katy Sheen, a NOC oceanographer is posting daily reports about life and work onboard the RRS James Clark Ross
A mystery in the ocean near Antarctica has been solved by a team including researchers at the National Oceanography Centre who have long puzzled over how deep- and mid-depth ocean waters are mixed.
The most detailed photographic survey of the abyssal ocean floor has been taken by the National Oceanography Centre’s robot sub, Autosub6000 – some half a million photos that will be stitched together to form a ‘street view’ map of the North Atlantic’s Porcupine Abyssal Plain and its inhabitants.
