research at sea

Cruise JC071 has really started for the RRS James Cook; the pilot has just left the ship, close to three hours since we left Berth S at Avonmouth Docks.

New Life Forms Filmed for Upcoming National Geographic Channel Series.

Today our planned programme of work has been thwarted by poor weather, with the sea being too rough to safely put the CTD in the water. We are currently running away westwards from the Skaggerak, trying to find calmer waters in the central North Sea.

Today has been a red-letter day in the cruise calendar, with two major activities starting up. Through the first half of the night the ship steamed further north towards the Outer Hebrides, in the weather forecast area “Hebrides”, unsurprisingly. Eventually we arrived at our target site close to the islands of Mingulay and Barra.

The UK research vessel RRS Discovery left Liverpool yesterday on the first research cruise specifically to study ocean acidification in European waters. Twenty-four scientists from eight different UK institutes, led by the National Oceanography Centre Southampton, will carry out the science.

On 9 May 2011, the RRS James Cook set sail from Govan, Glasgow, on a 34-day expedition to study seabed habitats and sedimentary processes in the North-East Atlantic Ocean.

The team, which combines scientists, technicians and crew from five different institutes, aim to:

Professor Eric Achterberg, University of Southampton – Discovery 361

We have returned home this week from our UK GEOTRACES cruise in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The cruise (February 7-March 19, 2011) was part of our project funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Dr Claire Mahaffey and Dr Sarah Reynolds, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK – Discovery 361

Anouska Panton – Discovery 361 – 10.04°N, 28.40°W

Joe Snow – Discovery 361 – 02.00°N, 25.30°W

My name is Joe Snow and I started my PhD in Southampton last September. In the six months that I’ve been at NOCS my time has been spend familiarising myself with the background information for my project along with preparing for this cruise.