tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33377247000686977972024-03-05T21:25:03.630+00:00Changing OceansUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-21482337461984299552014-08-04T08:43:00.002+01:002014-08-04T08:44:12.646+01:00UK's deep sea mountain life filmed by the Changing Oceans Expedition<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The discovery of deep sea corals on the Hebrides Terrace Seamount by the Changing Oceans Expedition has just been published in Nature Scientific Reports and featured on the BBC. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The new populations of deep-sea corals were discovered growing on
the slopes of the UK’s highest underwater mountain – a site recently added to
the list of Scotland’s new </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Marine Protected Areas.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Standing at 1400 m above the surrounding seafloor, the Hebrides
Terrace Seamount is the UK’s highest underwater mountain (Beinn Nevis is 1344 m
<i>above</i> sea level).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The deep-sea corals were discovered by a robot sub during the
first-ever visual survey of the steep, sloping flanks of the Hebrides Terrace Seamount,
an extinct, subsea volcano, during the Changing Oceans Expedition<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The corals support rich communities of other species and play a
critical role in the life history of species that range far beyond the UK’s
shores, such as threatened deep-sea skates which lay their eggs on them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Researchers were surprised
to find the corals growing at such depths, in seawater that is less hospitable
than shallower water such as Rockall Bank where some of the best-known cold-water
coral reef systems in the world are found.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">At the seamount depths, the seawater is naturally more corrosive
to coral skeletons and as ever- greater levels of carbon dioxide are released
into the atmosphere, the oceans of the world are becoming more acidic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Therefore the corals discovered during this survey may provide an
important warning gauge of climate change, because they are already growing
close to their limits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If the water gets any more corrosive as the oceans become more
acidic, then the parts of these deep-sea coral reefs that support so many other
species will dissolve away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The knock-on impact of ocean acidification on already-threatened
and little known deep-water species such as the deep-water skate, could be
catastrophic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Because ocean ecosystems are under pressure from ocean
acidification and other aspects of global climate change, Marine Protected
Areas will become a vital way of conserving fragile ecosystems like those on
the Hebrides Terrace Seamount. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The international survey team was led by Prof J Murray Roberts of
Heriot-Watt University</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">, aboard the RRS James Cook. Supplementary ship time funding for the
Hebrides Terrace Seamount ROV survey was received from the Joint Nature
Conservation Committee with the agreement of NERC.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Speaking about the discoveries made during the survey, Prof Roberts,
Professor of Marine Biology at Heriot-Watt University, said “These were some of
the most exciting surveys we’ve ever carried out at sea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“We had spent almost a month at sea before we surveyed the
Hebrides Terrace Seamount and it was so different from the other sites we
examined. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Now we need to get back to these sites to work out how these
corals are able to survive in these harsh conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">“In the meantime it’s very promising to see this important place
included as one of Scotland’s Marine Protected Areas.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Their findings are </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">reported in an
academic paper: Henry, L.-A. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "AdvOT7d6df7ab\.I"; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Et al</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. <i>Environmental variability and biodiversity
of megabenthos on the Hebrides Terrace Seamount (Northeast Atlantic)</i>. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "AdvOT7d6df7ab\.I"; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Sci. Rep. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvOT5e4d79fc; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">4</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-font-family: AdvOT1ef757c0; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">, 5589; DOI:10.1038/srep05589 (2014)
recently published </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">online in <i>Scientific Reports</i> <a href="http://www.nature.com/scientificreports">www.nature.com/scientificreports</a></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15993488810668676862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-52913006546014340052014-01-22T09:26:00.003+00:002014-08-04T08:44:24.889+01:00New paper just out on carbonate and nutrient system dynamics from the Changing Oceans Cruise.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Helen S. Findlay, Sebastian J. Hennige, Laura C.
Wicks, Juan Moreno Navas, E. Malcolm S. Woodward & J. Murray Roberts. 2014.
</span><span lang="EN-US">Fine-scale nutrient
and carbonate system dynamics around cold-water coral reefs in the northeast
Atlantic. <a href="http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140120/srep03671/full/srep03671.html" target="_blank">Scientific Reports 4,3671</a>.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-59975022360197450272013-06-07T13:35:00.002+01:002013-08-07T17:14:43.224+01:00The papers start to appear...Now a year after the 2012 Changing Oceans Expedition the results are appearing in the scientific literature. Click the links below to see the findings.<br />
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<!--StartFragment--><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Findlay HS, Wicks L, Moreno Navas J, Hennige S,
Huvenne V, Woodward EMS, Roberts JM (2013) Tidal downwelling and implications for the carbon biogeochemistry of
cold-water corals in relation to future ocean acidification and warming.
<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.12256/abstract" target="_blank">Global Change Biology 19: 2708-2719</a></span><!--EndFragment-->
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
Henry L-A, Moreno Navas J, Hennige SJ, Wicks L, Vad J, Roberts JM (2013) Cold-water coral reef habitats benefit recreationally valuable sharks. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320713000682">Biological Conservation 161: 67-70</a>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-30937895501196848102012-06-29T10:56:00.000+01:002012-06-29T12:12:08.715+01:00Changing Oceans: A poetic perspective<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7mzeYYoq9I/T-1417LYudI/AAAAAAAACHs/TFoe_s9dWtM/s1600/JC073+024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7mzeYYoq9I/T-1417LYudI/AAAAAAAACHs/TFoe_s9dWtM/s200/JC073+024.jpg" width="132" /></a>We’re onboard the RRS James Cook,<br />
Cruise number 073.<br />
We’re off on a 4 week adventure,<br />
to explore the deep blue sea.<br />
<br />
We’re not going far from Scotland,<br />
but we don’t know what we’ll find.<br />
We’ll use ROVs and CTDs,<br />
Oh, how the winch will wind.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L92p_SxDSjPeOuR-XX1y8PRlTISTAyhvj6Xn7OOtdUaF-wxNNCzJkERt1foPBN4KfP890apm0Cr1lg5WU_IPG1wMuh2SmP7nKYSg_caev2coEq7swWV_ZN6tRanZHFGTJSuTlBYsg8gP/s1600/gorgonian1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6L92p_SxDSjPeOuR-XX1y8PRlTISTAyhvj6Xn7OOtdUaF-wxNNCzJkERt1foPBN4KfP890apm0Cr1lg5WU_IPG1wMuh2SmP7nKYSg_caev2coEq7swWV_ZN6tRanZHFGTJSuTlBYsg8gP/s200/gorgonian1-1.jpg" width="133" /></a>The ROV is ready now,<br />
With its manipulator arm.<br />
Its boxes and its samplers,<br />
We just need the sea to calm.<br />
<br />
The ROV drops to the deep,<br />
To 1000 m or more.<br />
And here we ask what will it find,<br />
Down on the deep sea floor.<br />
<br />
The day shift watch, they sit and wait<br />
In front of the TV screen.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0q2ujLDCwQs/T9Fsv0o1pOI/AAAAAAAAB-A/mTPGL5Plt5Y/s1600/P6060018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0q2ujLDCwQs/T9Fsv0o1pOI/AAAAAAAAB-A/mTPGL5Plt5Y/s200/P6060018.JPG" width="133" /></a>Some fish, some plankton, And then, oh yes,<br />
“Amazing” comes the scream.<br />
<br />
Coral reefs, they don’t just grow<br />
Near a tropical sunlight shore,<br />
Down in the deep, the dark, the cold,<br />
The coral reefs grow more.<br />
<br />
The reef itself is built of lime<br />
Lophelia coral is most.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u0X2Fi7EBt4/T-15t6jCtrI/AAAAAAAACIE/ue5_0zqXcKA/s1600/JC073+027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u0X2Fi7EBt4/T-15t6jCtrI/AAAAAAAACIE/ue5_0zqXcKA/s200/JC073+027.jpg" width="132" /></a>But in the reef live so much more,<br />
Diversity can boast.<br />
<br />
Inside the control box, out on deck,<br />
The Masters make it go.<br />
With a little joystick movement,<br />
It can go against the flow.<br />
<br />
As if we’re really swimming there,<br />
Everything’s in range.<br />
It’s like another planet,<br />
The creatures are so strange.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrn28vJ0tPJm0UI0nf8jxsIZTF0g4AgAYh8Mq3WivmTPCANS1UsZt1ZSy8X8WGtOyjoWx3EkcAFtgoYonsVBirOwX7QOugtaZjLus6qEKXmyRRbhuyzpcnEeOWual61jrx8gJoZmflKdl/s1600/DSC_0028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBrn28vJ0tPJm0UI0nf8jxsIZTF0g4AgAYh8Mq3WivmTPCANS1UsZt1ZSy8X8WGtOyjoWx3EkcAFtgoYonsVBirOwX7QOugtaZjLus6qEKXmyRRbhuyzpcnEeOWual61jrx8gJoZmflKdl/s200/DSC_0028.JPG" width="133" /></a><br />
<br />
The time at depth is far too short,<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mv6dqk8pQeY/T-17TLUF8hI/AAAAAAAACIs/qMEu38qavpM/s1600/P1030018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mv6dqk8pQeY/T-17TLUF8hI/AAAAAAAACIs/qMEu38qavpM/s200/P1030018.JPG" width="133" /></a>The ROV must ascend.<br />
Back on board, a sigh of relief,<br />
Another successful end.<br />
<br />
While through the shift the tea flows strong,<br />
We seem to eat all day.<br />
But after the shift has come to an end<br />
A beer is on its way.<br />
<br />
Then a sleep and back to work,<br />
Crew and scientists carry on.<br />
While I sit in front of a beeping box,<br />
Analyzing samples all night long.<br />
<br />
But when the ROV cannot go in,<br />
We’re not stuck for things to do.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEite-qeZon3HM2z4SSvRLKWcu83IMbuuz4kjOFJNYfyrEhLHaTvsWUVzhoNRua4suP_BeLEzboEMKt5OXDcpypi6D8eWxXT-j1VgviQ3r0nTuZIbQd8e28ssn4QgkOLBTU5zd77Ogo7vHx6/s1600/IMG_5992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEite-qeZon3HM2z4SSvRLKWcu83IMbuuz4kjOFJNYfyrEhLHaTvsWUVzhoNRua4suP_BeLEzboEMKt5OXDcpypi6D8eWxXT-j1VgviQ3r0nTuZIbQd8e28ssn4QgkOLBTU5zd77Ogo7vHx6/s200/IMG_5992.JPG" width="133" /></a>We profile the water with the MVP,<br />
CTD and multibeam too.<br />
<br />
<br />
We work through the day and the night,<br />
In the dark and in the cold.<br />
Collecting, sampling, coring, logging:<br />
Data is our gold.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgruPUIfaNyRLKLUMflpDQMC5kWj_dXNv-Mdq1IithK5GPexOjNUlk4iHhiOJYm8NyybNgIC_rS-hkn8W6G2N1AA7oBIv6AhtSlLv70Z0KOTe_f6yQHtPtLbjQFMYsIo-Y6wLwGH1jBFjSm/s1600/captain+seb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgruPUIfaNyRLKLUMflpDQMC5kWj_dXNv-Mdq1IithK5GPexOjNUlk4iHhiOJYm8NyybNgIC_rS-hkn8W6G2N1AA7oBIv6AhtSlLv70Z0KOTe_f6yQHtPtLbjQFMYsIo-Y6wLwGH1jBFjSm/s200/captain+seb.JPG" width="133" /></a>The night shifts’ task: we need to core,<br />
But will it work, we cry!<br />
The sediment is far too hard,<br />
No matter how much we try.<br />
<br />
<br />
It takes two hours up and down,<br />
From surface to ocean floor.<br />
But until it gets back up on deck,<br />
We’ll never know for sure.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E90KH_MgTbo/T-17edtbhfI/AAAAAAAACI0/EFBP3M_zXiI/s1600/IMG_7215.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E90KH_MgTbo/T-17edtbhfI/AAAAAAAACI0/EFBP3M_zXiI/s200/IMG_7215.JPG" width="133" /></a>When it comes up, we hold our breaths,<br />
In the dawning light,<br />
We see the mud in which the critters hide,<br />
Oh how we do delight!<br />
<br />
In between, I hear the beeps,<br />
The never ending sound.<br />
Even when the wind is up,<br />
And waves are crashing round.<br />
<br />
And now we’re coming to the end,<br />
We long to see the shore.<br />
But the ocean waves are rolling on,<br />
Intriguing us ever more.<br />
<br />
<i>Written by Helen Findlay</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-1518731163646741312012-06-15T08:10:00.000+01:002012-06-19T14:44:54.114+01:00Day 28: They think its all over....it is now!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SY9t__kz1s8/T9mJDpp3bXI/AAAAAAAACGM/P_yo7NuDMpo/s1600/DSC00934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SY9t__kz1s8/T9mJDpp3bXI/AAAAAAAACGM/P_yo7NuDMpo/s320/DSC00934.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
There was a real flurry of activity on the ship yesterday as everyone dismantled their equipment and started the long process of clearing up after a month at sea.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9WQwb96YDnY/T9res8swB_I/AAAAAAAACGw/DCqUgKg99-Q/s1600/Janina+ROV+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9WQwb96YDnY/T9res8swB_I/AAAAAAAACGw/DCqUgKg99-Q/s200/Janina+ROV+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Throughout yesterday load after load of boxes and metal cages full of samples was moved up out of the ship’s hold onto the deck ready to be lifted off by crane today.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RQjcJwuj6s4/T9reoEQcuCI/AAAAAAAACGo/nt0SaU7LFRI/s1600/Liz+%2526+Veerle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RQjcJwuj6s4/T9reoEQcuCI/AAAAAAAACGo/nt0SaU7LFRI/s200/Liz+%2526+Veerle.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
When you see the piles of boxes and sample buckets you start to realise what a lot’s been achieved over the last month. We have terabytes of digital video of spectacular cold-water coral reefs and thousands of still images – it is a bit daunting to think how long it will take to process and analyse, we can be sure this expedition will be keeping us all busy for some time to come!
But we didn’t just collect pretty pictures. The <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-13-underwater-robots.html">ROV</a> worked hard gathering samples for experiments on board the ship to help us understand what implications ocean warming and acidification may have for the corals that build deep-sea coral reefs. We deployed ‘Jackson’ the <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-8-eddy-has-landed.html">Eddy</a> lander system to measure oxygen consumption, and the first results look very promising. We used<a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-6-helens-water.html"> CTD</a>, <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/p/equipment.html">MVP</a> and<a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/day-17-pumps-and-pageants.html"> SAPS </a>to understand the environment the coral ecosystems need. It’s this combination of taking measurements on the seafloor alongside experiments with corals on board the ship that will really help us understand how these ecosystems function.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rpvNUO-6Im0/T9re2y1DhLI/AAAAAAAACHA/bs6m6FhgZyc/s1600/IMG_6539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rpvNUO-6Im0/T9re2y1DhLI/AAAAAAAACHA/bs6m6FhgZyc/s200/IMG_6539.JPG" width="150" /></a>Of course none of this would have been possible without the ship and her crew. On behalf of all the scientists on board we would like to thank the Captain, ship’s crew and all the engineers and technicians who have made the Changing Oceans Expedition such a productive and enjoyable experience.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-39242571898274144682012-06-14T07:56:00.002+01:002012-06-14T07:56:49.562+01:00Day 27: Homeward Bound...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1VR87qdUY5o/T9mJzJhG53I/AAAAAAAACGc/uunigE-IWE8/s1600/Bird_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1VR87qdUY5o/T9mJzJhG53I/AAAAAAAACGc/uunigE-IWE8/s400/Bird_4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And we’re off! After a day of ROV sampling at Mingulay and a night of multibeam mapping, the ‘over-the-side’ science has ended, and as of 0600 we are beginning our journey back to the delights of Govan! So a final equipment blog, coming today courtesy of Juan from Heriot –Watt University.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VmTf73C8hCg/T9mH75iiErI/AAAAAAAACF0/CoF6dVj-UMQ/s1600/juan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VmTf73C8hCg/T9mH75iiErI/AAAAAAAACF0/CoF6dVj-UMQ/s200/juan.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juan making maps</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Mingulay Reef Complex has a unique oceanographic phenomena; a downwelling of water movement from the surface of the ocean towards the bottom every 6 hours. We need to further understand the waters surrounding the area, in order to know how the cold-water corals feed, reproduces and the possible impact of climate change in the near future.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgNUDq-xwks/T9mI1bWbi2I/AAAAAAAACF8/TE-ObwkcJw4/s1600/JC073+041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OgNUDq-xwks/T9mI1bWbi2I/AAAAAAAACF8/TE-ObwkcJw4/s200/JC073+041.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moving Vessel Profiler </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We use several instruments to measure water column characteristics. For example, we have devices that measure the current speed (as the Doppler effect), as well as systems that continually measure temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and plankton in the ocean (the <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/p/equipment.html">MVP</a>), from the surface to over 500 m deep, over several kilometres as we trundle along. We can also create 3D maps, which we use to plan the sampling areas and the ROV dives. All this information will be processed in ours laboratories and computers.<br />
<br />
Life on a research vessel is full of surprises, sieving mud at night in the middle of the ocean, some time with whales close to you, watching squid at 200 meters on TV screens, marine birds above us every single day and watching the sun rise with other colleagues, seriously it is an experience of your life......<br />
<br />
Tomorrow we will have our final blog from the Changing Oceans Expedition, following a day of packing, steaming and that final sunset. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SY9t__kz1s8/T9mJDpp3bXI/AAAAAAAACGM/P_yo7NuDMpo/s1600/DSC00934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SY9t__kz1s8/T9mJDpp3bXI/AAAAAAAACGM/P_yo7NuDMpo/s400/DSC00934.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-27962538135075335552012-06-13T06:59:00.000+01:002012-06-13T09:44:27.246+01:00Day 26: Mud, Glorious Mud<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z6LDrTjWiCQ/T9gkHCRh0aI/AAAAAAAACE4/Q2_0wBQPJek/s1600/Pic+3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z6LDrTjWiCQ/T9gkHCRh0aI/AAAAAAAACE4/Q2_0wBQPJek/s320/Pic+3b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Night shift processing cores</td></tr>
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Cries of 'land' filled the chemistry lab yesterday, as the Hebridean islands came back into sight. Following a successful box coring campaign at the Hebrides Terrace Seamount, when scientists reverted to toddlers in the presence of mud, we were back at Mingulay for a final round of ROV dives and multibeam surveys.<br />
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Previously we have heard about the exciting things happening on the sediment surface. Equally exciting are the animals living inside the sediment layer. These beasts living inside the sediment are referred to as bioturbators. They build tunnels through the sediment and by doing so they allow oxygen and food particles to penetrate the deeper layers.<br />
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The SPI camera, which was introduced by <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/spi-ing-on-reefs-and-seamounds.html">Silvana</a>, allows the visualisation of the water-sediment interface. This gives exciting snapshots of the sediment layer. <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/p/equipment.html">Box corers</a> are a great way to expand on that snapshot. They penetrate the sediment (on this cruise with the surface area of 2.5 square m) and collect a block of sediment. The penetration depth depends on the speed it is lowered at and the sediment consistency.<br />
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The samples that are collected are then sliced up into different layers of sediment and sieved, which generally turns into a team bonding exercise because all hand are needed on deck (Pic 2 & 3). Samples vary greatly with distance to seamounts and corals and occasionally we also find animals such as xenophyophores on the sediment surface. For those that are unaware, xenophyophore are giant singular celled protists that can grow to up to 10 cm in diameter. With all this muddy work, the ship deck tends to need cleaning afterwards...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cleaning the deck</td></tr>
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Today has been another day filled with mud - this time on the deck of the ship as the box corer brings it up to for benthic sampling. But more about that tomorrow. Today's blog is an update from Helen....<br />
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The last few days of the cruise are rolling on… Since my first blog some time ago, the sun has mostly been hidden behind a sky of grey, and we’ve been dodging bad weather for the last few weeks. Despite this the ship has been surprisingly stable. In fact as I am gently rocked awake in the mornings I often think the weather has improved. However as I sway and bump my way down the corridor from my room to the lab I realise I am wrong – I am not drunk, which is perhaps how it looks, I’m actually just suffering the effects of gravity on a rocking ship.<br />
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I am sat here now, very much as I was sat last time I wrote a blog: running my DIC and alkalinity machines measuring the carbon in the seawater… I hear the beep, I change the sample… I shall summarise my ship life over the last 24 days in numbers: so far I’ve:
- analysed 343 water samples from depths of 2000 m to the surface (that’s 17,150 beeps!)
- made 48 CTD casts, overall bringing about 11 tonnes of water to the surface to be sampled or used in ship-board incubations
- and drunk well over a million cups of tea!!<br />
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I’ve also discovered the in-lab computer monitors, which display information about the ship’s goings-on. These monitors are wired to the ship’s main computer and are displayed in all the main labs. A touch screen display shows everything from the ship’s position, direction and speed, to information about how quickly the winch is going up or down, and what depth the instrument is at (this is particularly useful for me to run out to the CTD between beeps!). There is also a weather screen, and as the number of samples I have to analyse slowly goes down, I’ve watched the wind steadily increase (we’ve seen gusts over 40 mph – force 8), and this effects what instruments we can deploy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBl7DDUsKNTCvABKz_WDgdbZeZqsDqgg4ydnCrAgcbR57oq8KJgvUx_OMbW2gyaZzvRcAldSQhV-Q5UZJLjVmEp29PBkObHzfFPIBtxYckPIEXM8qNdd_blI2aGs1mTSeueMrzrzUKxuZn/s1600/DSC_9040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBl7DDUsKNTCvABKz_WDgdbZeZqsDqgg4ydnCrAgcbR57oq8KJgvUx_OMbW2gyaZzvRcAldSQhV-Q5UZJLjVmEp29PBkObHzfFPIBtxYckPIEXM8qNdd_blI2aGs1mTSeueMrzrzUKxuZn/s200/DSC_9040.JPG" width="132" /></a> The other important factor that determines when we can deploy instruments is the sea state. On the ship display there is also a screen which shows the pitch, roll and heave of the ship. The pitch is the up-down (fore-aft) movement of the ship, the roll is the side-to-side movement, and the heave is the overall lift or drop of the ship with the swell. On a flat sea, the pitch, roll and heave would all be 0 degrees but as the waves increase and the ship moves around more, the values increase. So the other thing I’ve been watching as I sit waiting for the beep, is the increase in pitch and roll of the ship. The biggest value I’ve seen is a roll of about 6 degrees but we tend to be having rolls and pitches between 1 to 3 degrees (although right now its stable). So the numbers don’t seem very high, but when I stand up to change my samples I feel the pull of the waves and I find myself balancing and swaying to stay vertical. To confirm all these numbers, all I have to do is take a look at the waves outside the porthole. Every few seconds I see a glimpse of grey dark waves then a few seconds later the horizon disappears and I’m looking up at the grey cloudy sky.<br />
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The other thing I’ve been looking at is the data from the CTD, this instrument measures Conductivity (or salinity), Temperature with Depth, and therefore provides us with a profile of how cold and salty the sea is through the water column. These parameters are really important for looking at the physical dynamics of the ocean and interpreting our data. From these profiles I can tell you where a reef is located, when there is an internal wave from a tide, or even where the gulf stream is. The last few days we’ve been watching the sea surface change colour, its stripy white mixed in with the blue. Much like a swirl of two ice creams being mixed together. The white is actually a coccolithophore bloom. Coccolithophores are tiny microscopic plants that make calcium carbonate plates, like armour plating. When these phytoplankton die the plates fall off and a mass of chalky whiteness fills the sea. These blooms are so extensive they can be seen from space. The swirls happen because the ocean is dynamic, there are eddies and waves that carry these microscopic plants around. It’s been fantastic to match all this up: From satellite to ship-board photographs, to the water physical dynamics (the CTD), to the microscopic plants, and then to the invisible, yet ever present, dissolved inorganic carbon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-19152567536154159312012-06-12T02:56:00.000+01:002012-06-12T05:50:36.370+01:00SPI-ing on reefs and seamounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Silvana Birchenough from Cefas continues to report on the SPI work conducted during the expedition.......<br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8kA7NuPdv6w/T9WMgjspMLI/AAAAAAAACCY/Lq_raERjCkg/s1600/SPI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8kA7NuPdv6w/T9WMgjspMLI/AAAAAAAACCY/Lq_raERjCkg/s200/SPI.jpg" width="141" /></a>Nearly time to return home and I am delighted to report that our SPI camera has been a great success. We have been able to take some fantastic images of the fauna at the Mingulay Reef, Banana Reef and Logachev mounds study sites. This has included taking images down to a depth of 1000m at Logachev. Most of our previous SPI work and collection of images have been taken at 35-45 m depth. This is the first time SPI images have been taken in these areas, which make it very interesting for us to see in real time some of the fauna and sediment types. This expedition has been really interesting for us on all fronts. We have been able to use different equipment, survey at different depths and develop of a series of experiments, which will help to expand our current understanding on the effects of ocean acidification.<br />
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Our SPI work will also provide some very interesting ecological information for some of the study sites. The ability to study in-situ fauna and their activities across different habitat types adjacent to the cold water corals areas is a real bonus. Our SPI images have been collected as a series of ~1.5 to 2 km transects. We were able to target specific areas since we had multibeam data available to support our transect designs.<br />
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<span id="goog_1425779145"></span><span id="goog_1425779146"></span>We have collected approximately 300 SPI images at the three study sites. The data will keep me busy with the data analysis over the next few months; the results are very interesting and will help us to expand our current knowledge. After an initial review of some of these images I can see there are differences across the sites. They show numerous species of fauna (e.g. sponges, polychaete tubes, squat lobsters, brittle stars and coral) and biogenic structures (e.g. burrows, feeding voids, redox layers and sediment types) in the habitats located around the<i> Lophelia pertusa </i>reefs. We hope to use this information to help understand the existing biodiversity and function (e.g. bioturbation) of the communities adjacent to the cold-water coral reefs.<br />
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The Sediment Profile Imagery (SPI) is an in-situ technique, which takes vertical profile pictures of the upper 20 cm of soft sediments. The images can provide clear insight into the relationship between fauna and their habitat. We will be able to integrate these data sets as baseline information to understand the potential effects caused by ocean acidification on these systems.<br />
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I have included some of our images, see our results…..<br />
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Today we have a special point of view, written by Lissette from Heriot-Watt University...... <br />
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You don’t usually expect to find an undergraduate on a research vessel among a 20-something strong team of scientists. Nevertheless, as my dissertation focused on the biodiversity of the cold-water coral reefs of Mingulay, I have managed to incorporate myself on the James Cook for everyone’s delight and help. My role as a research assistant means I get to help everyone on the famous night shift.<br />
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My nightly chores are variable, giving me the fantastic opportunity to be involved in everything that goes on during my working hours. One example of this is helping Helen with CTD water sampling, as well as sample processing for studying the water column and the carbonate chemistry of the visited sites. I have also been involved in helping <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-9-coral-challenge-begins.html">Team Coral</a> with studies relating to ocean acidification and cold-water coral physiology, as well as the <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/day-14-up-close-and-personal-with.html">protein </a>work conducted by Penny. Additionally I’ve helped with benthic sampling, which means sorting and sieving mud that is brought up by the box core.<br />
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Box coring also resulted in us getting some solitary corals on board. This has allowed me to carry out a small study of my own, measuring this yet-to-be identified species’ respiration rates and possible changes in these in response to exposure to elevated water temperature in the “mini-oceans”. On top of this, due to Helen being busy with her own work, I was able to help with another short-term study on sea-urchins, to look at their response to varying CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> levels, so we can get an idea of how they would respond to ocean acidification.<br />
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As this cruise is mostly filled with a bunch of young scientists, such as PhD students and post-docs, everyone has been keen to share their knowledge and reasoning behind their experiments while teaching me different sampling techniques. I have also learned a lot about how academia works and about the endless amount of things that can be researched and that if you’re not sure how to tackle your research, a technician will be able to help you! On a wider scale, the science occurring on James Cook is truly multi-disciplinary, therefore providing me with a wholesome comprehension of our oceans as well as taking me beyond marine biology (which is what I’ve studied) to oceanography and the technical processes such as exploration by the ROV and seabed mapping. While talking about the ROV, it must be said that the scenery it has provided us with, through its cameras, is phenomenal, allowing us to see the beauty of the cold-water reefs and the rich biodiversity they support.<br />
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As a conclusion I must admit my life on board has been quite exciting. This once in a life-time opportunity has taught me a lot, inspired me in relation to my future scientific path and provided me with a lot of knowledge on the state-of-art environmental issues and how we can tackle these through science!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-12893814792095970442012-06-11T02:50:00.001+01:002012-06-11T02:54:17.469+01:00Day 24: Mapping the cold-water coral landscape<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The cruise is reaching its final stages now, and the team have collected a number of samples for the ocean acidification experiments. In addition we have placed equipment on the seafloor and carried out visual observations along transects. But how do we know where exactly to go? What kind of environment do our coral samples come from? In today's blog, Veerle from the Natioanl Oceanography Centre, Southampton, talks about the technology we use to do this.....
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veerle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Understanding the surroundings of the coral sites and the spatial structure of the habitat is important for the final interpretation of the experimental results. It is also important in its own right, because marine habitat maps are increasingly used as the main source of information to support decisions about marine protected areas and conservation of endangered species.<br />
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So how do we go about creating a map of the seafloor and coral habitat? Unfortunately, visual light doesn’t travel very far in water, so we can only use photography and video at very close distance to the seabed. However, it is (currently) impossible to video or photograph the entire world’s ocean floor – this would take hundreds of years! Instead, the tool of choice for mapping the seabed is sound: by using different types of echosounders and different frequencies, we can map the morphology and reflectivity (which gives an indication for the sediment type) of the seabed.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBvGpAtzBl2lOMQLWaWv_5E4TRE6MzpLdF3ZuH6srQYdudpZUyl44kvKZEOonPZ8EZLK6e0O4KZcpl00PwLw2EKTAq9aet_i01o1j02JEoACgdHeWTtLaQG5vOL-rwKWzanLL6cAK2hxN/s1600/Multibeam.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBvGpAtzBl2lOMQLWaWv_5E4TRE6MzpLdF3ZuH6srQYdudpZUyl44kvKZEOonPZ8EZLK6e0O4KZcpl00PwLw2EKTAq9aet_i01o1j02JEoACgdHeWTtLaQG5vOL-rwKWzanLL6cAK2hxN/s200/Multibeam.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: Scientific American</td></tr>
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A single beam echosounder measures the time between a sound signal being sent from the ship and the echo from the seabed to coming back, and converts this into depth below the vessel. This is continuously repeated while the ship travels on, and results in a profile of the seabed plotted on the screen. A multibeam echosounder basically does the same, but has a whole fan of acoustic beams going out from the vessel. The seabed depth is measured for each of these beams, and by repeating this ping after ping, a 3D morphological image of the seabed is created (see Figure). In addition, the strength of the echo in each of the beams tells us something about the seafloor type, with strong echos from rocky or gravelly substrates, and weak returns from a muddy seabed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qRGkEr3VSMg/T9VOFkSI-mI/AAAAAAAACCA/6eX38ldDFLg/s1600/IMG_5909.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qRGkEr3VSMg/T9VOFkSI-mI/AAAAAAAACCA/6eX38ldDFLg/s200/IMG_5909.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coral reef landscape</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Unfortunately, there is one trade-off: due to the geometry of this fan of beams, and the absorption of sound in the water (less than the absorption of light, but still), mapping in deeper water needs a lower frequency sound source and results in lower resolution in the final map. Typically when working in 1000m water depth, the pixels in the map represent about 25x25m patches on the seafloor, while in ca. 100m water depth this can be reduced to 2.5x2.5m.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dU-IhNaP2eo/T9VGt_7h_kI/AAAAAAAACBs/Nfjrq5rjnco/s1600/Murray+%2526+Geoff+ROV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dU-IhNaP2eo/T9VGt_7h_kI/AAAAAAAACBs/Nfjrq5rjnco/s200/Murray+%2526+Geoff+ROV.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the ROV control centre</td></tr>
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So, to get a better picture of the coral reefs, we have to bring the multibeam system closer to the seafloor, which we do by putting a system on the ROV! Flying the ROV at around 30m above the seabed, we create ultra-high resolution maps, with pixels of around 0.5x0.5m, although we cover less ground in the same time. It’s a real challenge for the pilots as they have to fly in the dark: at 30m altitude we cannot see the seabed! It may come across as a fairly tedious activity, slowly moving along the survey lines at a speed of 0.4kn, not seeing very much, but I find it fascinating to see the map being created on the screen, line after line! Combining this information with the video interpretations will provide full-on habitat maps of the coral landscapes.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ7oAexyT90/T9VMUBfehxI/AAAAAAAACB4/ctfT_IICkW8/s1600/IMG_7944.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EQ7oAexyT90/T9VMUBfehxI/AAAAAAAACB4/ctfT_IICkW8/s200/IMG_7944.JPG" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ROV going in</td></tr>
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<br />
So far we only have been able to map one area with this technique during this cruise, although we have used the ship-board multibeam systems in several occasions already. The results of the ROV mapping provide unprecedented insights in the shape of the coral reefs, and we hope the weather will be kind enough to us to allow a few more detailed maps to be made!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-91482836546508236662012-06-10T06:20:00.001+01:002012-06-10T06:25:08.259+01:00Day 23: The Coral Doctor explains all.....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjAcIUbxeOvyyu954kPXqJ8IgFe3II6dr4dVLOy_2ihcqCiCJ1cGoh0Gh_cBX5CJyOG62GnLEY1F0V-rPr9CYAER0zEvp7WVi9dah4Z8goxdqC-JLC6hhaX-q8XjUMtcF8tTW_Obcb-4d/s1600/IMG_6197_Respiration.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjjAcIUbxeOvyyu954kPXqJ8IgFe3II6dr4dVLOy_2ihcqCiCJ1cGoh0Gh_cBX5CJyOG62GnLEY1F0V-rPr9CYAER0zEvp7WVi9dah4Z8goxdqC-JLC6hhaX-q8XjUMtcF8tTW_Obcb-4d/s320/IMG_6197_Respiration.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Since our early morning arrival at the Hebrides Terrace seamount, and Helen's excitement about getting water samples from nearly 2000 m, the ROV has been busy surveying the seafloor. The coral biologists among us weren't too excited about the swaths of mud in every direction, but each to their own!<br />
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So, today's blog is written by one of those coral biologists, Janina Buscher from GEOMAR......<br />
As a member of Team Coral on board the RRS James Cook, I am involved in the work that goes on outside with the experimental tanks in the hanger of this ship, related to future scenarios of climate change conditions. As already explained by <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-6-helens-water.html">Helen</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/Day%209:%20The%20Coral%20Challenge%20begins...%20">Laura</a> and <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/day-14-up-close-and-personal-with.html">Penny</a>, we are investigating the question of what might happen to the animals in our oceans – especially the most abundant cold-water coral <i>Lophelia pertusa</i> – when the ocean warms up and gets more acidic. Ocean warming and acidification caused by elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is of greatest concern in higher latitudes and in cold deep waters. This is because carbon dioxide, which is mostly absorbed by the ocean from the atmospheres, dissolves more easily in these areas and is, hence, expected to have a stronger impact on the animals living there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBq74-n92TEqUCHYz-rGC2hYBg-tYYD7ysKd_M9lwkyxRuVm_DjCAGDYLqVk0csI5ljpuNgeyFW8uZcMKRo039drW0S9T6qu5uP-u_wMvycZINSFU93jOYDZ-53aWNiYahhx1soDv0IGy/s1600/IMG_8201_Fitness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBq74-n92TEqUCHYz-rGC2hYBg-tYYD7ysKd_M9lwkyxRuVm_DjCAGDYLqVk0csI5ljpuNgeyFW8uZcMKRo039drW0S9T6qu5uP-u_wMvycZINSFU93jOYDZ-53aWNiYahhx1soDv0IGy/s200/IMG_8201_Fitness.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing samples</td></tr>
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As a “coral doctor” – as I was called in an earlier <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-9-coral-challenge-begins.html">blog</a> – I am specifically interested in the health of the corals. I am trying to find out how fit the corals are and how this will change in response to more acidic waters or higher temperatures or even both in combination, like is expected to occur by the end of this century. So, how am I doing this? Well, I am analysing the fitness of the corals as well as the respiration rates. But unlike a human doctor, who would probably make you pedal on a training bike to measure your pulse after exercise, I estimate the coral’s fitness via a molecular method and the respiration rates via oxygen consumption.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pOfb0pLTFeU/T9Qk7meiaxI/AAAAAAAACAg/d_CPAzJsZRg/s1600/IMG_8204_Fitness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pOfb0pLTFeU/T9Qk7meiaxI/AAAAAAAACAg/d_CPAzJsZRg/s200/IMG_8204_Fitness.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Janina's samples</td></tr>
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Measuring fitness on a molecular basis is possible in different ways. The way I am measuring is by examining the amount of Ribonucleic acid (RNA) compared to the amount of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). RNA is the actively transcribed part of the genetic information, which is translated into <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/day-14-up-close-and-personal-with.html">proteins </a>that are needed for all the corals metabolic processes. Therefore, the ratio of RNA to DNA shows how much of the genetic information is actually active, which gives us a hint of the coral’s fitness. The higher the RNA content, the more active and so the fitter they are. As I can’t analyse the RNA on board, I have to preserve the tissues in a specific solution for later analysis in my laboratory in Germany. So that I can compare how the fitness of the corals changes in response to future ocean acidification and warming, I fix the coral tissue of a few polyps before and after being incubated in the different experimental conditions.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hVDC2Odq6ts/T9QroPjzDrI/AAAAAAAACA0/5jqVrp6dhLQ/s1600/Janina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hVDC2Odq6ts/T9QroPjzDrI/AAAAAAAACA0/5jqVrp6dhLQ/s200/Janina.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
I also have coral colonies from the Mingulay Reef Complex, in which I am measuring how much oxygen the coral fragments respire in a specific time span. I can do this is small sealed chambers with oxygen sensors. After I measured the respiration in all of the fragments, I incubated them for 10 days in the different climate change scenario treatment tanks. As I write this, I am currently halfway through my second period of respiration measurements. By measuring respiration rates in all fragments again, I can see if <i>Lophelia pertusa</i> breathes more under acidified or warmer water conditions, or if they might be able to acclimatise to oceanic conditions that are predicted for the future.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iAHbCAjKSUo/T9Qr1g_-knI/AAAAAAAACA8/3-mrQ_CYA6s/s1600/IMG_5866_Gas+mixing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iAHbCAjKSUo/T9Qr1g_-knI/AAAAAAAACA8/3-mrQ_CYA6s/s200/IMG_5866_Gas+mixing.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old-school gas mixers</td></tr>
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Aside from the corals, I am happy to see that the old-school gas-mixing pumps that enrich two of the treatment tanks in the hanger with a CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span>-air gas mixture of about 750 µatm (predicted value for the end of this century), work pretty well and do their job quite precisely. The deep water pump, which I brought from Germany, purrs quietly ahead and regularly delivers water from deeper water layers, so that the corals get water similar to their natural environment. Above all, I am happy that Germany won the game against Portugal yesterday ;) and if everything goes on like this, the cruise will be completely successful!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-32935691170006634082012-06-09T05:48:00.000+01:002012-06-09T11:27:24.770+01:00Day 22: Rowing on Rockall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgaPeb46g0nozKVlrQ4PsdbxREWtjpDpvLdIByVQ0m8y027sCBLa0X103oRb-jN9S4VpDNwOt81lmM6iUMJpdf3Ory3j2Dfvjvj4HMLlZJOhFMw5n1LStlgZJv8dojhv9FtiFygvTHV4WM/s1600/rockall+edited+for+%2527clarity%2527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgaPeb46g0nozKVlrQ4PsdbxREWtjpDpvLdIByVQ0m8y027sCBLa0X103oRb-jN9S4VpDNwOt81lmM6iUMJpdf3Ory3j2Dfvjvj4HMLlZJOhFMw5n1LStlgZJv8dojhv9FtiFygvTHV4WM/s400/rockall+edited+for+%2527clarity%2527.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Last night, the scientists aboard the RRS James Cook has the once-in-a-lifetime (probably) opportunity to see Rockall, as Captain Bill took us via the the Rock, on our way to the Hebridean Seamount. For those of you don't know (and many of the scientists are among you in the dark), Rockall has been referred to as "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world", the UK's furthest outlier. Unfortunately the British weather failed to surprise us, and all we saw was a slightly darker grey blob, amid the grey sea and sky. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YWWeSlkULPw/T9LJyNDr43I/AAAAAAAAB-U/_2TmqP2DyCU/s1600/penne+driving+2-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YWWeSlkULPw/T9LJyNDr43I/AAAAAAAAB-U/_2TmqP2DyCU/s200/penne+driving+2-1.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penny driving with Captain Bill</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">After all that excitement, it's time for todays blog, written by Geoff Cook, our resident American giant......</span>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">It’s just past 04:00 on the morning of June 9
and I recently finished getting a bit of </span>
exercise on the ship’s Concept II rowing machine, or ERG. For those of you who have never had the “pleasure” of experiencing this modern instrument of torture, you should know that it is world-renowned for inflicting severe pain in extremely short periods of time. After collecting and processing samples, and with more work to be done before getting some rest, I foolishly decided to blow-off steam by raising my heart rate. Being too tall to run on the ship’s treadmill without decapitating myself, I had no other option but to hop on the ERG.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqm81MAMXpNQzR_naN8MeF9oemk0p4mxCXKARzBsoGKgdovcaHnIbTFCaBGMsiyCcBx-Wk2T3Jcei8vnjaXGaWAb2Qp6KTDcP-Zu05kVEfgr7v9VaMXpllNTUldsD_dCsEHaAaisca2fF/s1600/geoff+water+sampling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigqm81MAMXpNQzR_naN8MeF9oemk0p4mxCXKARzBsoGKgdovcaHnIbTFCaBGMsiyCcBx-Wk2T3Jcei8vnjaXGaWAb2Qp6KTDcP-Zu05kVEfgr7v9VaMXpllNTUldsD_dCsEHaAaisca2fF/s200/geoff+water+sampling.JPG" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geoff helping Team CTD</td></tr>
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One of the psychological benefits I derive from rowing is that it offers the ability to retreat into one’s mind, thereby escaping the pains inflicted by both the ERG and our fieldwork. As I bumped along, feeling each swell in the ocean roll beneath me, I began waxing nostalgic about my days as an undergraduate when I rowed competitively. The coordinated exertion between me and eight companions— I am including our coxswain in this headcount—was the result of a mutual understanding that we were all racing against time, the competition and, in many ways, ourselves. I soon found these memories helped me to recognize a few parallels about the type and degree of teamwork I have witnessed since joining the 2012 Changing Oceans Expedition.<br />
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An aspect of group-work that I have always found fascinating is the ability for multiple individuals, regardless of any pre-existing relationships, to focus their efforts towards achieving a common goal. When properly motivated and directed, the combined effort of 2, 4, 8, or even 54 people can transfer a remarkable amount of energy to meet the demands of remarkable challenges. Studying coral reef communities that live 1000 meters beneath the waterline in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean presents, in my humble opinion, a remarkable challenge.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLH_Bv7G1dA/T9LON5iTx5I/AAAAAAAAB-o/uJ51nndzC2s/s1600/DSC_0024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLH_Bv7G1dA/T9LON5iTx5I/AAAAAAAAB-o/uJ51nndzC2s/s200/DSC_0024.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
All monetary expenses aside, these biological systems are too remote, too deep, and too complex for a single individual to achieve even a modest degree of understanding in a realistic time span. Developing an accurate and focused picture of how these communities will respond to the pending threats of global climate change can only be achieved by launching a multi-faceted, synergistic research program like the 2012 Changing Oceans Expedition. This requires enlisting the help of numerous individuals with a diverse array of expertise. In other words, many hands make light work.<br />
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The inherent limitations of studying life in the deep sea seem to be one of the mutual understandings that we (i.e., the crew of the RRS James Cook, the ROV team, and the international collection of scientists) all share. As a result, a common thread seems to have emerged that weaves cohesiveness through the patchwork of activities being conducted during this cruise. What I find most impressive is that this thread appears to have arisen organically (i.e., it was not demanded by anyone except, maybe, by ourselves).<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XWuAq6F3dNY/T9LQlbzO-bI/AAAAAAAAB-w/hZRdmx77WeI/s1600/Dayshift_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XWuAq6F3dNY/T9LQlbzO-bI/AAAAAAAAB-w/hZRdmx77WeI/s200/Dayshift_2.jpg" width="200" /></a>In many ways, this mutual understanding extends beyond the confines of the RRS James Cook, reaching across oceans as well as political and cultural boundaries. Many people have contributed to the success of this research cruise and they all deserve thanks. So, my sincere thanks go out to the ship’s crew, the ROV team, my colleagues, and everyone else (Happy Birthday Love!) who has contributed their time, energy, and belief in this expedition. But letters of recognition and key deliverables can be ephemeral. Perhaps using the results of our inquiries to enact positive change is a more appropriate way to give back or, better yet, give forward. While establishing goals that aim to preserve environmental legacy for our future generations is laudable, actually achieving these goals may be the best thanks we can offer. Though I cannot be certain, I believe this is another thread that binds us all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-44254045620756692052012-06-08T02:27:00.001+01:002012-06-08T02:57:39.343+01:00Day 21: Sponges of the deep.....<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AZAeQrSHxv4/T9FSm97MsDI/AAAAAAAAB9U/tgxIvj1U2s8/s1600/Sponge5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AZAeQrSHxv4/T9FSm97MsDI/AAAAAAAAB9U/tgxIvj1U2s8/s400/Sponge5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Georgios examining sponges on black coral from the Logachev mounds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday's dives at the <a href="http://www.lophelia.org/case-studies/pisces-and-rockall-bank" target="_blank">Pisces </a>site revealed a plethora of stunning white <i>Lophelia</i> - a great result, since we were not sure what we would find! Although there are still images and videos from John Wilson's 1973 dive, very little research has been conducted in the area in the past 40 years, so we were all very happy to see the white polyps waving in the currents.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Another animal which we are always happy to find are deep-sea sponges, and there amazing abundance means we are never disappointed! So, today's blog is written by Georgios from the University of Aberdeen, about his spongy specimens of the deep.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mqP5Es5buu0/T9FS5MezfbI/AAAAAAAAB9s/VskVRQijyJ4/s1600/Sponge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mqP5Es5buu0/T9FS5MezfbI/AAAAAAAAB9s/VskVRQijyJ4/s200/Sponge2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cup-shaped sponges</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Deep-sea sponge grounds are important deep-water ecosystems. They provide structural habitat, which is home to a great number of species, as well as acting as nursery grounds for commercially important fish. Importantly, sponges are thought to be a source of bioactive compounds, which can be used to make new drugs. Despite these major characteristics, deep-sea sponge grounds have been overlooked for many years. Their presence in areas of intense human exploration (i.e. gas / oil drilling and trawling) makes them particularly vulnerable to destruction. But, over the past few years, conservation of these important species has become a priority, which makes studies on the structure of these ecosystems essential.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LFH4_IOo45U/T9FS8jOaMYI/AAAAAAAAB90/l1DsQmDQE_U/s1600/Sponge1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="126" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LFH4_IOo45U/T9FS8jOaMYI/AAAAAAAAB90/l1DsQmDQE_U/s200/Sponge1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sponges at Mingulay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sponges are mainly active filter feeders, which means that they pump seawater through their body and remove particles that are in the water that they can use as food, before pumping out any unused excess. Sponges can also play host to symbiotic bacteria, a relationship where the sponge gains important nutrients from the bacteria, and in exchange the bacteria thrive in their sponge tissue home. Recently, it has been shown that sponges with symbiotic bacteria can also use dissolved organic carbon as a food source, which is really important when looking at the role of sponges in the deep sea food web. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VRLknk7dLhE/T9FSz37QesI/AAAAAAAAB9k/nHmGBmpI2so/s1600/Sponge3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VRLknk7dLhE/T9FSz37QesI/AAAAAAAAB9k/nHmGBmpI2so/s200/Sponge3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Incubation chambers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In this cruise, we have conducted on board experiments on the feeding and respiration of sponges from the Mingulay Reef Complex and Logachev Mounds, where we found them were attached to dead coral fragments. The sponges were placed in incubation chambers equipped with stirrers and optodes (which measure oxygen levels). In the chambers, they were fed with various food sources (glucose/ammonium, microalgae, bacteria), which were labelled with carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15 N) isotopes. After 24 h in the chambers, our samples were frozen so that we can analyse how much of these isotopes were taken up into the sponge tissues.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJtWbgEHq2pf0_nwHhnWFnueQWhNPVibOy6pQO3qpBxGKC_WZl8I_5F0Np1QEZ4JTtp4ArxQ8rthG54e-tZ4tWEGbDtQ2q30OcOtLBgpvwdiYxbVLH3_qAHi_i8MkR43i0wqZ3__0jJgz/s1600/Sponge4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJtWbgEHq2pf0_nwHhnWFnueQWhNPVibOy6pQO3qpBxGKC_WZl8I_5F0Np1QEZ4JTtp4ArxQ8rthG54e-tZ4tWEGbDtQ2q30OcOtLBgpvwdiYxbVLH3_qAHi_i8MkR43i0wqZ3__0jJgz/s200/Sponge4.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"If you’d told me you<br />
needed so much filtered sea water<br />
I would have taken more books" </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These experiments will (hopefully!!) provide us with important information about the uptake and turnover of each type of food source. In this way, the role of sponge assemblages in carbon cycling in the deep oceans will be illuminated.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-66106911028092466262012-06-07T10:33:00.000+01:002012-06-07T12:50:40.014+01:00Day 20: A sneak peek at life on board.....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DW_jMgTenGg/T9Bm26j3aGI/AAAAAAAAB7U/ES7SlJrWveg/s1600/GOPR3361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DW_jMgTenGg/T9Bm26j3aGI/AAAAAAAAB7U/ES7SlJrWveg/s320/GOPR3361.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Following another successful ROV dive, in which we saw squid, jellyfish, huge crabs, massive anemones and beautiful fields of the corals<i> Lophelia</i> and <i>Madrepora</i>, it was time to leave Logachev and steam north. Our destination: The Pisces 9 site where pioneering dives by John Wilson in 1973 gave us video and still images of <i>Lophelia </i>reefs on the Rockall Bank 350 miles offshore. <br />
<a name='more'></a>The 13 hour steam gives me time to tell you a little about the ‘floating travel inn’ that is the RRS James Cook! The ship can be home for up to 54 people for more than a month, so as well as being well equipped for all the science we will do, it also gives us a little bit of home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREiujzxUDLf2PBCumQ8Iowm3M7g6UcvbtxugOuC-Ij9KIE6_SLf94-v4LdxngEhKFhyphenhyphenhVcyCsPQMfmPPK4UANSPn6UpeVeuFqqqoF8i2mOhpzE-AT3NHbl2T7AMkiPxTUApzl9kiB5nxx/s1600/Jc0731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhREiujzxUDLf2PBCumQ8Iowm3M7g6UcvbtxugOuC-Ij9KIE6_SLf94-v4LdxngEhKFhyphenhyphenhVcyCsPQMfmPPK4UANSPn6UpeVeuFqqqoF8i2mOhpzE-AT3NHbl2T7AMkiPxTUApzl9kiB5nxx/s200/Jc0731.JPG" width="200" /></a>So lets start at the bottom. On the main deck we have the accommodation - cabins and shared bathrooms for each scientist and technician. Being low down in the ship makes sleeping easier when it gets rough, although there can still be a fair amount of rolling around when the swell is up. Downstairs we also have a gym, which becomes a bit of a necessity with all the nice food we get - especially since jogging round the ship takes all of a minute! There's also a little bit of luxury downstairs, with our very own sauna - perfect for warming up after hours on deck sieving benthic samples in the wind and rain.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5MsiXRIq7Ls/T9Bmq3SYvgI/AAAAAAAAB7E/TPGBlSqU_ms/s1600/GOPR3013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5MsiXRIq7Ls/T9Bmq3SYvgI/AAAAAAAAB7E/TPGBlSqU_ms/s200/GOPR3013.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
The upper deck is where all the science happens. First up we have the dry lab and the plot, where plans are made with the captain every morning, and the day shift gather around the screen during ROV dives. There can be some tense moments around the TV, particularly where the manipulators are deploying or retrieving expensive equipment! The dry lab is an IT geeks heaven - computers fill every space, bringing in information from the various pieces of equipment deployed from the ship. <br />
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Next door is the chemistry lab, Helen's home for 12 hours a night, where she analyses her water samples. She has frequent visitors; Team Microbe process their samples, Team Coral take measurements of coral health and Team Sponge study their samples under the microscope.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7_coS9oN_E/T9BnJrJA4YI/AAAAAAAAB7k/J5hYMukR4O4/s1600/DSC_0156.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w7_coS9oN_E/T9BnJrJA4YI/AAAAAAAAB7k/J5hYMukR4O4/s200/DSC_0156.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terry in the wet lab</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Heading towards the back of the ship, we have the cold-room and the wet lab. Not actually wet, but a place that equipment can be prepared. Out through the watertight doors, we have the hanger, which houses our 'mini-oceans', large tanks holding a myriad of sea creatures. This is also the space where larger equipment is prepared for deployment - especially when it's raining and windy on deck! <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3ZbLXZfEBWI/T9BnTP1FlHI/AAAAAAAAB70/Dj_JVG3PRzE/s1600/DSC_0155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3ZbLXZfEBWI/T9BnTP1FlHI/AAAAAAAAB70/Dj_JVG3PRzE/s200/DSC_0155.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Breakfast in the mess</td></tr>
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Up one level on the mezzanine deck, we have the galley and mess (kitchen and dining room to land-lovers!), as well as the TV room (complete with Sky box), Library and the Bar. At precisely 7.20am, 11.20am and 5.30pm, the mess comes alive, as hungry scientists descend on the chefs to fill their empty bellies. The chef's (John and Wally) have one of the most important jobs on the ship - hungry scientists are grumpy scientists. So its a 5am start for John and Wally, planning the day's meals and cooking up a storm. Between 4 and 8 tonnes of food are craned onto the ship during mobilisation, and special fridges keep the fruit and veg fresh for up to 3-4 weeks. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ju3NLJ8xeWc/T9BnX30w3fI/AAAAAAAAB78/Xw6oV1T8N6o/s1600/DSC_0151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ju3NLJ8xeWc/T9BnX30w3fI/AAAAAAAAB78/Xw6oV1T8N6o/s200/DSC_0151.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John serving breakfast in the galley</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Keep going up the stairs and there is crew accommodation on the boat deck, and then more cabins on the Forecastle deck, including the PSO's suite! Finally, right at the top is the bridge, a flashback to Star Trek, complete with Captain's chairs and touchscreen controls (although disappointingly, no big wooden steering wheel!). The view from the top is stunning, from the huge waves on rough days, and clear skies and wildlife on sunny days. Fingers crossed for more of the latter!<br />
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<tr><td><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDylSXtInplvN5qGhRiCpuk-N-BUn-3f-X5CV1xc1WoJDubBe5J4CIW2A-_oR35Aq-X93Cq_PQh_NdAH_UGblG4T1QomflbPsBI0xpMHvCK61q_vq3txudF-fZp7CscsapBydGq9y7qgJY/s1600/P1010738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDylSXtInplvN5qGhRiCpuk-N-BUn-3f-X5CV1xc1WoJDubBe5J4CIW2A-_oR35Aq-X93Cq_PQh_NdAH_UGblG4T1QomflbPsBI0xpMHvCK61q_vq3txudF-fZp7CscsapBydGq9y7qgJY/s200/P1010738.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deck activities</td></tr>
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</td><td><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xqpZfPwtz8s/T9Bn2Kgw3wI/AAAAAAAAB8M/HYWJK0qHXn0/s1600/P1010612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xqpZfPwtz8s/T9Bn2Kgw3wI/AAAAAAAAB8M/HYWJK0qHXn0/s200/P1010612.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The many decks</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_vl4j7-GrBHlMG0bgv-tOBAKT_zY7x62oVxj881a92BS4WNtlZy_n4nxb2sW3toeE1GyB_SccDLrGD1zWTNKdD8TU7UNyxxDJIPK57J_oZpwubaqU-72jw6eyG3gZL4SEzCu_4OjYjcL/s1600/GOPR3205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_vl4j7-GrBHlMG0bgv-tOBAKT_zY7x62oVxj881a92BS4WNtlZy_n4nxb2sW3toeE1GyB_SccDLrGD1zWTNKdD8TU7UNyxxDJIPK57J_oZpwubaqU-72jw6eyG3gZL4SEzCu_4OjYjcL/s200/GOPR3205.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The chemistry lab</td></tr>
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</td><td><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yiVCZBn9Ork/T9B051dlkfI/AAAAAAAAB8o/leBrreZwBP8/s1600/DSC_4093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yiVCZBn9Ork/T9B051dlkfI/AAAAAAAAB8o/leBrreZwBP8/s200/DSC_4093.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mini-oceans in the hanger</td></tr>
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</td>
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</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-29896557393155342032012-06-06T07:03:00.003+01:002012-06-08T09:08:43.176+01:00Day 19: It's gettin hot in here.......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9nQqaMam6ew/T87Ta55J2RI/AAAAAAAAB6U/NSzQpwanKqU/s1600/IMG_8047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9nQqaMam6ew/T87Ta55J2RI/AAAAAAAAB6U/NSzQpwanKqU/s400/IMG_8047.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The swell continues to prevent any ROV deployments, but everyone's spirits are up, particularly after learning that we appeared on the BBC Jubilee Show in our home-made crowns! The science continues, as there is also equipment that we can deploy in these conditions, and there are many on-board experiments taking place with the corals and sponges collected from the seamound..... <br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8b9pVDT2HsS1UU-bNn6kPLjHxz0K3AClhfLlpKAdLKvL9_W9iogHTLYe26ksBqT-UdnWBO_HPkqQ4OvQBkQ-b5LrMb3skT3HAJrcYrzjPhTw2LrBHkvP0d3TRBUDwQ2iiejRRHHVWeI5J/s1600/fishing+in+the+tanks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8b9pVDT2HsS1UU-bNn6kPLjHxz0K3AClhfLlpKAdLKvL9_W9iogHTLYe26ksBqT-UdnWBO_HPkqQ4OvQBkQ-b5LrMb3skT3HAJrcYrzjPhTw2LrBHkvP0d3TRBUDwQ2iiejRRHHVWeI5J/s200/fishing+in+the+tanks.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collecting corals</td></tr>
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Today's blog is written by Sarah from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, all about warming up corals!<br />
<br />
Think about the reaction of the human body when we enter a very cold room? We all know that we will get freezing hands and feet, but we also breathe faster to compensate for the loss of energy. This is because our bodies are trying to heat up and perform their usual processes under freezing conditions. Now interestingly, the same happens with corals, but in response to warmer temperatures!<br />
<br />
We are out in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and we share this spot with deep-sea corals. The corals live 600-800 m below us and are amazing in their structure and diversity, as we see most days on the High-Def screen, pictured by the ROV cameras. We assume that these corals are comfortable in their 9°C, cold environment; we can see their polyps extended and their tentacles waving in the current. It is thanks to Helen and the CTD array that we know all about the conditions on the reef, from the temperature and salinity to oxygen levels!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Smhr_pPDAs0/T8LmRv-LnlI/AAAAAAAABE8/tOb40o18JmU/s1600/Murray+ROV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Smhr_pPDAs0/T8LmRv-LnlI/AAAAAAAABE8/tOb40o18JmU/s200/Murray+ROV.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corals of the deep</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As we know, global warming is happening on our planet, and the ocean temperature is increasing. the question that I am trying to answer is: Will the cold-water coral <i>Lophelia pertusa </i>increase their metabolism and ‘breathe’ differently when the oceans warm? Or can they adapt to these warmer conditions? Fingers crossed it is the latter!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P7FwZNqujDs/T87Tg2Z3lhI/AAAAAAAAB6c/X7pHQAH5Av0/s1600/JC073+033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P7FwZNqujDs/T87Tg2Z3lhI/AAAAAAAAB6c/X7pHQAH5Av0/s200/JC073+033.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corals in their respiration chambers</td></tr>
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In my project, I am comparing how corals respond when the seawater temperature is increased slowly, at a medium rate, and rapidly up to 12°C. This is a relatively large temperature increase for these corals, who would have only experienced small fluctuations of less than 1°C. My corals are living in tanks in the cold-room that we have on board the ship. The room is regulated to 9°C to ensure conditions comparable to the deep sea where we collected them – also means we have to wrap up warm when working in there! I am using heaters in each of the tanks to steadily warm up the tanks and control their level. Every third day, I measure the respiration rate of the corals using an optode system and specially designed chambers. I can then compare any changes in coral metabolism that have occurred, and see if the rate at which we change the temperature affects the corals response.<br />
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Research so far on both tropical and cold-water corals has shown they are very sensitive to stress, particularly temperature changes, seen in the mass coral bleaching in the tropics. Even though cold-water corals are out of sight, 600 m below us, we still need to work out how they will respond to future changes in temperature, and protect these amazing creatures!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-22242505019219284992012-06-05T06:58:00.000+01:002012-06-05T06:58:51.297+01:00Day 18: The Oily Bits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There were big sighs of relief all round this afternoon as the weather improved and the ROV got back in the water. But now for something different. In the morning, the night shift were treated to a tour of the engine room by the Chief Engineer. Nigel from CEFAS tells us more......<br />
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The RRS James Cook is a truly wonderful piece of modern engineering. At one end of the spectrum you have a ship which floats and man has been making these for thousands of years. At the other end of the spectrum you have a massively complicated piece of engineering that not only floats but also provides water, electricity and all the services required to support life and the complex needs of a modern research vessel.<br />
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Today we were given the superb opportunity to have a look around some of the areas below deck where the lesser known species of Marine Engineers live. To maintain the creature comforts for 54 people you need lots of water, fuel (to make electricity) and food. Our guide was Bob, the Chief Engineer with years of experience.
After a brief safety talk, we started in the main control room, home to the controls for most of the machinery and generating plant. A lot of the controls on the Bridge are duplicated here, so that at any time it is possible for the engineers to take control, if needed!<br />
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We proceeded through the various spaces that make up the ‘heart’ of the vessel.
For a lot of the scientific work that the RRS James Cook undertakes it is necessary for it to hold station, i.e. the boat needs to be geographically stationary. This is possible because of a system called Dynamic Positioning (DP), basically this is a computer that is able to control not only the main propulsion but a variety of other propulsion systems. In total, the James Cook has two main propellers, two stern (tunnel) thrusters, one bow (tunnel) thruster and one retractable azimuth bow thruster. These are all controlled by the DP to maintain the vessel in an exact stationary position. This ensures both safety and efficiency of deck operations.
As mentioned above, we needed a lot of fresh water for everything from people to take a shower to making the essential cup of tea. The boat can hold up to 200 tonnes of water but still needs to make up to 9 tonnes a day to save costly port calls. This is made by a low pressure evaporation plant, which is then chlorinated before entering the storage tanks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thruster</td></tr>
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To keep all the various machinery running we need fuel and quite a lot of it. We have the ability to carry over 730 tonnes, this fuel is warmed slightly and cleaned before being used to power the engines.
After passing through the main engine room, switchboard room, aft and fwd thruster rooms, compressor room, boiler room, engineers workshop and various other nooks and crannies we were returned to daylight like Hobbits coming out of caves.<br />
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Now the techy and number bits:<br />
Date of build: August 2006<br />
Displacement: 5800 tonnes<br />
Dimensions: 89.5m x 18.6m, 5.5m draught.<br />
Main Engines: 4 x Wartsila 9L20 engines coupled to 1800KW generators, these produce 3 phase 690VAC which is mainly used for the prop motors but also converted to 415V 3 phase, 230V and 110V for distribution throughout the vessel.<br />
Propulsion Motors: 2 x 2500kW electric motors<br />
Bow Thruster: 900kW<br />
Azimuth thruster: 1400kW<br />
2 x Stern thruster: 650kW and 800kW.<br />
Clean Power: 2 x 415V<br />
Motor Generator sets, 2 x 230 MG sets.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-83272300992047636222012-06-04T06:20:00.001+01:002012-06-04T08:11:40.905+01:00Day 17: Pumps and Pageants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As many of us were missing the Queen's Jubilee celebrations (and 4 day weekend!) back home in Blighty, we decided we should honour the occasion on board our Royal Research Ship. <br />
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Being mainly prepared for science, not arts and crafts, we had to use our imaginations! So out came the waterproof marker pens (designed for writing labels on tubes) and aluminium foil, and the scientists found their creative sides, designing crowns and hanging bunting throughout the ship. Everyone got into the task; Americans, Maltese, Spanish, German, Finnish, Belgian, Chilean and Irish joined with the Brits to mark the occasion. Then, while the sun came out over the Atlantic, those of us on the night shift wound down from their grueling shift by watching the people of London turn out in the rain to watch the Jubilee pageant. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Preparing filters</td></tr>
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Ok, onto the science. Overnight, we have been running a CTD/SAPS campaign. As in an earlier <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/day-6-helens-water.html" target="_blank">blog</a>, Helen has been using water collected by the CTD to analyse the carbon chemistry and other oceanographic parameters, like temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll. Attached to the CTD frame, we have a SAPS - Stand Alone Pumping System. The SAPS is basically a big pump attached to a filter rig with a delayed timer - it means we can send the pump to whichever depth we want and switch it on without being there. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James helping me rig the SAPS</td></tr>
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But why exactly do we want to do this? Well, we use the SAPS to look at the amount of particulate organic carbon (coral food) that is reaching the reefs. The pump records how much water flows through the filters, and following laboratory analysis of how much carbon is on the filters, we can calculate how much carbon (food) the hungry corals have access to. This information, combined with surveys of the reef and CTD data, can help us understand why the corals live where they do, and what any future changes in climate and currents may have on these ecosystems.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-55309460605145163442012-06-03T03:17:00.000+01:002012-06-04T05:41:10.127+01:00Day 16: Half-way through and the weather turns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today's blog is written by the Principal Scientific Officer, Murray, as the weather gives him time to pause.....Today the Atlantic Ocean is roused with winds gusting to Storm Force 8 and a rolling swell of between 4 and 6 m. It’s too rough to put any equipment into the sea so for the moment no more ROV dives are possible and we are running acoustic surveys of the seabed that will help us understand how coral carbonate mounds are formed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Murray</td></tr>
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Given the weather, and since we have passed the half-way point of the 2012 Changing Oceans Expedition, it’s a good moment to think about what we’ve achieved and why we’ve all gone to sea for a month.<br />
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The evidence that global climate is changing is overwhelming and the vast majority of scientific opinion supports the view that these changes can be traced back to the release of greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution. Among these gases carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels is the most significant contributor to global warming. Something approaching a third of the CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> released by human society has dissolved in the oceans causing <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/p/science.html">ocean acidification</a> at a rate faster than any seen in geological history.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fA6rVZaUXbU/T8w6_zyjCEI/AAAAAAAAB2k/7joAhVr2uFk/s1600/ROV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fA6rVZaUXbU/T8w6_zyjCEI/AAAAAAAAB2k/7joAhVr2uFk/s200/ROV.jpg" width="200" /></a>The Earth’s rapidly changing climate sets the stage for our research on the Changing Oceans Expedition. As this blog shows, the research teams on board are all busy tackling the often daunting task of trying to assess how complex biological systems will respond to ocean acidification.<br />
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Perhaps the greatest feature of spending a month together at sea is the chance to work in teams tackling different aspects of the same problem. Already we’re seeing new lines of research spring up between people on board and entirely new studies and measurements are being carried out – some developed from ideas and discussions since we set sail.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making Crowns</td></tr>
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Ecology isn’t a neat and tidy subject and understanding what controls and modulates ecosystems is a huge challenge. The Changing Oceans Expedition is one of the most ambitious attempts yet to understand the functional ecology of cold-water coral systems. Without this understanding we cannot predict how these ecosystems will respond to global climate change. In essence this is the thread that links all the different teams and research projects on board.<br />
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As I write this our ship-board experiments continue despite the weather, the occasional roll of the ship and the home-made crowns many of the researchers on board are wearing today to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.<br />
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More about our Jubilee celebrations tomorrow…Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-11131857756747381432012-06-02T09:16:00.000+01:002012-06-09T14:30:33.238+01:00Day 15: Capturing Carbon and Corals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Changing Oceans expedition has passed the halfway point, and everyone is optimistic that all our aims will be achieved. It's pretty rocky out at Rockall at the moment, the waves are up and ROV operations have been postponed. Luckily, there is other equipment that we can deploy when the seas are a bit choppy so overnight we have had the<a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/p/equipment.html"> moving vessel profiler</a> in the water. <br />
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<a name='more'></a>But first, today's blog is written by Rowan from Heriot-Watt University about cold-water corals, from an engineering perspective.....<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rowan measuring coral respiration</td></tr>
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Hello and nice to meet you. I have been asked to write a small piece for today’s blog so I thought I would tell you a little about my research. Though I hail from Ireland, I feel quite at home in my present position as a postgraduate researcher with Heriot-Watt University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. This specialty is, as the name suggests, where engineering meets the physical and, in my case, life sciences.<br />
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As a marine biologist, I have always held a deep fascination for learning about natural biological systems and using information from these processes to look after and repair damaged areas of our planet. It seemed natural for me to gravitate towards the concept and engineering of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a way to deal with climate change. CCS is, in brief, capturing carbon dioxide and other flux gases from the source of combustion (e.g., power stations, fertilizer & concrete manufacturing) and transporting it to a storage facility on land, at sea, or even beneath the seabed. <br />
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My research is concerned with the environmental impact(s) of this stored CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> on marine creatures and the surrounding ecosystems. If this CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2 </span>store were to leak, either during or post injection, it could have rapid and immediate effect on the critters that live near the reservoir. As the name of our expedition denotes, the oceans are changing. One aspect that is currently being altered is the acidity of the sea. If too much CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> enters the world’s oceans then it could drastically alter the pH of the water which is normally 8.1 in the ocean to anything from 6.5 to 7.8. To put this in perspective your stomach has a pH value of about 1.5 to 2 and orange juice a pH value of 3.5. Overall, changes in pH could have major effects on marine species, presenting a new challenge to their already perilous existence. While this may be short term from 7 days to 2 months or more it has many consequences for carbon cycles, marine species, ecosystems and us.<br />
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I am investigating the effect(s) of rapidly lowered pH on deep water coral species. Obviously, it is key to avoid a possible leak in the first place. However, if it does happen, we need to study the impact on surrounding marine communities, so we will have some idea of what will happen to them and their ecosystems. It is my hope that the results of this research will help guide the development of policies that impose regulations on the type(s) of technology required to safely manage carbon sequestering programs like CCS.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-83167819324108369852012-06-01T05:55:00.000+01:002012-06-09T14:32:52.565+01:00Day 14: Up close and personal with corals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Out in the North Atlantic, conditions have changed - the swell is up and we have been busy securing everything after 2 weeks of calm seas. ROV operations have continued throughout the afternoon, and the night team are now about to embark on a box coring campaign in the rain!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>But first, today's blog is written by Penny from the University of Glasgow, about coral feelings!<br />
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....So many of you will have heard scientists talking about global climate change and ocean acidification, but what exactly do we mean when we talk about this? And why are we particularly interested in it on this expedition?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYD5CDF1yqVkXZybX5v1WRnkSGO56WXwETdCOv36ZiH8fvMwe7xjE5N-KksRFLDNq_QBtRY9w-mkWCX6T5gqkZf9OtHCCNGiJF3-vDt1aheH-AB58KK-6ytefa57HqKoWh0ubQJ9ODRS9/s1600/IMG_2587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYD5CDF1yqVkXZybX5v1WRnkSGO56WXwETdCOv36ZiH8fvMwe7xjE5N-KksRFLDNq_QBtRY9w-mkWCX6T5gqkZf9OtHCCNGiJF3-vDt1aheH-AB58KK-6ytefa57HqKoWh0ubQJ9ODRS9/s200/IMG_2587.JPG" width="150" /></a>Global climate change sums up a whole list of things affecting our environment. Scientists believe these changes have been caused by human activities which have led to an increased level of CO<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> in Earth’s atmosphere. If we look back in the past we can see that the Earth’s climate has been through some major changes. The difference between past changes and modern day climate change is the speed of that change and scientists are worried that animals and plants will struggle to adapt fast enough to the new conditions.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1kelKK5695c/T8w0TCeidAI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/yy3GVXirGKs/s1600/madrepora+%2526+worm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1kelKK5695c/T8w0TCeidAI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/yy3GVXirGKs/s200/madrepora+%2526+worm1.jpg" width="133" /></a>Increasing temperature and <a href="http://changingoceans2012.blogspot.co.uk/p/science.html">ocean acidification</a> are two factors that have been highlighted as areas of concern for the animals and plants that live in our oceans.
Deep sea coral reefs provide a home for thousands of marine animals and act as a nursery ground for many important commercial fish species. As a member of team coral, I am part of the experiment investigating how cold water corals may respond in the future to increased temperature and ocean acidification. Ideally we would be able to ask the corals how they were feeling about all these changes to their habitat; however scientists are yet to master the language of coral! Therefore we need to come up with ways to find out how the coral is ‘feeling’.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h-ozy9WYELY/T9NNx_s7nuI/AAAAAAAAB_w/dQtqRhkIsZE/s1600/IMG_2583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-h-ozy9WYELY/T9NNx_s7nuI/AAAAAAAAB_w/dQtqRhkIsZE/s200/IMG_2583.JPG" width="150" /></a>Ok, so here is the science; I look at the response of corals to environmental changes at the molecular level. All the processes we carry out on a day to day basis, including eating, breathing, regulating our body heat and growing, are controlled by proteins. For example, when we breathe our body transports oxygen from the lungs around the body using the blood. The main component of our blood, and the thing that does all the work, is a protein called haemoglobin. When our body experiences a change in environment our body is able to produce more or less of particular proteins to cope with these changes. If I was climb up a mountain to a very high altitude where there is less oxygen in the air, my body would produce more haemoglobin to help me cope with this change. The proteins used by the corals act in a similar way to changes to their environment. We can look at changes in the concentration of particular proteins to assess how important coral processes, such as calcification, may respond in the future to increased temperature and ocean acidification. By looking at the corals in this way, we can start to better understand how and which processes important to the coral, will be impacted by climate change.<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-74618201310340874702012-05-31T05:32:00.000+01:002012-06-02T10:58:13.873+01:00Day 13: Underwater robots<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dIvCrhQeTKE/T8bJQts0g9I/AAAAAAAABKc/Brw0Z_mfMos/s1600/rov+recovery.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dIvCrhQeTKE/T8bJQts0g9I/AAAAAAAABKc/Brw0Z_mfMos/s400/rov+recovery.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
On this cruise, a great deal of the research relies on our underwater robot (the ROV), and the crack team of pilots that spend their days sitting closely together in a metal container!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will in the command unit</td></tr>
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Let me introduce you to the team. First up there is Will, the ROV supervisor, who makes sure everything is running smoothly and is on hand to fix any problems which arise. Will has extensive experience with ROVs, from working at Woods Hole Oceanographic (WHOI) to freelance work at Southampton with ISIS. He constantly amazes us with his experiences, from 3D filming from helicopters and seeing erupting underwater volcanoes, to finding the Liberty Bell space capsule. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul deploying the ROV</td></tr>
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Then we have the ROV pilots: Paul, a New Yorker who keeps everyone entertained with his jokes. A citizen of the world, he is now based in the sunny shores of Miami. Richie has a background working on ROV sensors, and has achieved his ambition of ROV-based science expeditions on this, his first science cruise! When he's not in the command unit or ROV area, he is regularly seen around the ship taking amazing photos. Martin (top photo) is the Willy Wonka of the team, supplying sweets to the guys, which I'm sure helps the tense atmosphere when something unexpected happens!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave</td></tr>
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Finally we have Dave from the National Oceanography Centre, our ISIS pilot who is learning all about the Holland I ROV we have onboard. Dave has a way with words, wanting to work with ROV exploration because it is the 'pinnacle of ocean exploration', and describing Antarctic hydrothermal vents 'like factories with smoke billowing out'! <br />
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These guys combine their experience to ensure that the scientists are happy, from collecting near bed multibeam data, to carefully sampling corals, sponges, crabs, brittle stars and even microbes!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richie in the command unit</td></tr>
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The process of ROV deployment and recovery is probably the most stressful part. First, the ROV frame is moved out and over the ocean, using the control panel on deck. The winch then slowly deploys the ROV, still attached to the tether management system (TMS). Once it is at 100 m, the pilot in the ROV unit takes over, sending the ROV and TMS down to just above the reef. The TMS then releases the ROV, just like a toddler on reins, so it can explore the mysteries of the deep. From here, the pilots control its every movement from the command unit, using the amazing 'mini-arms' to control the ROVs robotic arms, or manipulators. While this is all going on, the ROV pilot and co-pilot are joined in the command unit by two scientists, who get to choose their samples, control the HD camera and keep a running commentary as the adventure unfolds. <br />
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</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-21840595246051713962012-05-30T09:14:00.002+01:002012-05-30T11:30:48.918+01:00Day 12: Hidden creatures of the deep!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KEBpxd7EU7k/T8V-vY1nfNI/AAAAAAAABHs/suWlijH10eM/s1600/The+sampler+in+action+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KEBpxd7EU7k/T8V-vY1nfNI/AAAAAAAABHs/suWlijH10eM/s400/The+sampler+in+action+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Today’s blog is written by Anne from the University of Hull, about the teeny tiny invisible creatures of the deep.<br />
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Look at the pictures of the amazing deep sea coral reef and think about what’s living there. What mainly comes to mind? Coral? Fish? Sea urchins? Crabs? I bet you’re not thinking about the microbes, but that’s exactly what Geoff and I do! When we see a scene like that we’re wondering what bacteria, fungi and viruses are present there and what they’re doing. Just like humans have microbes all over their insides and outsides, the same is also true of corals and other marine creatures. These microscopic organisms can affect their hosts in a number of ways, ranging from helping to keep them healthy (think yakult!) to causing disease. However, we know very little about the identity or function of microbes in these deep, cold water coral reefs, largely because they’re so difficult to study.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sampler on ROV</td></tr>
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The main problems are that the microbes on the coral aren’t always very well stuck to them and the sea is full of other microorganisms so if coral is just pulled up to the surface, many of the microbes that live on it will be washed off and replaced by others. To get around this problem Geoff has designed and built a special sampler (see photo). This consists of six canisters with lids held on by super strong magnets which we fix to the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and send down to the seabed. Once there, the right robotic arm of the ROV removes the lid of one of the canisters whilst the left arm picks up the ‘slurp gun’- a device like a really strong vacuum cleaner. It then uses this to hoover up a few little pieces of coral and puts them in the canister. The right arm then puts the lid back on and seals it tightly shut. By encasing the coral samples like this, we protect them from contamination so when the ROV returns to the surface, the microbes are still on them just as they were when they were originally 800 metres underwater. A huge amount of time and effort was put into designing and building this sampler and before this cruise it had never been tested under such extreme conditions, so the first dive was pretty nerve racking! It worked like a dream though and watching the ROV operators getting such great samples for us in such a technologically advanced way has been an amazing experience!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geoff and Anne prepare samples</td></tr>
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Once the ROV’s back at the surface, we remove the canisters and begin the challenging task of studying the microbes they contain. Classically, people have done this sort of work by growing them in petri dishes and tubes but this approach can lead to a very biased view of what was actually originally present as not all micro-organisms will thrive in such artificial conditions. For this reason we use techniques that don’t rely on growing anything at all. Just like the police use DNA evidence to see who was present at the scene of a crime, we use very similar techniques to find out which bacteria were on the coral.</div>
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We’ll also use a method called fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) which uses special chemical probes which glow when they bind to bacteria so we can look at the coral under a microscope to pin-point their exact location. Unfortunately these techniques take a long time and require very expensive specialist equipment that we don’t have on the boat. This means that for now we’re spending our time preserving the corals so we can look at them once we’re back on dry land and finally understand more about these often ignored but very important little organisms!
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anne of Team Microbe</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Geoff of Team Microbe</td></tr>
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</tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-49414211480946768872012-05-29T03:38:00.000+01:002012-05-29T03:38:09.129+01:00Day 11: Dissolving balls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today the blog is written by Seb Hennige (part of Team Coral) and is about clod cards (or clod balls as perhaps they should more accurately be named!).<br />
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<a name='more'></a>As you can clearly see, there is a lot of life down at 860m, and these animals form a very complicated food web. Understanding this food web is critical for many long-term studies, as until we know how carbon and nitrogen cycle through these ecosystems, we cannot predict what will happen in the future. Clod cards can provide the key to this.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZO_sHU2QAA/T8Lq2zFyjiI/AAAAAAAABFQ/OK8W7u7Y67o/s1600/P1030021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VZO_sHU2QAA/T8Lq2zFyjiI/AAAAAAAABFQ/OK8W7u7Y67o/s200/P1030021.JPG" width="150" /></a>These balls were painstakingly made over many months by Christina Mueller from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) by growing algae and bacteria in very dense cultures with traceable carbon and nitrogen. These cultures are then concentrated further and mixed with gypsum to form the ‘clod balls’, which look like the fat balls you buy for birds over the winter.
These balls are then suspended in a plastic cage and deposited on an area of reef rich with live animals such as corals, sponges, sea urchins and starfish.<br />
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These balls then dissolve into the water over the next period of days and the surrounding animals will eat the released food and take up the traceable carbon and nitrogen into their tissue. Depending on how much they eat and respire, different animals will take up more or less of the carbon and nitrogen. After six days, we will return to the sites where we left these clod cards and carefully sample some of these animals to see how much of the nitrogen and carbon they have taken up.<br />
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Once we understand these complex food webs a little better, then we can start to think about how they will be affected by future changes in ocean conditions. Fingers crossed that when we return in six days that the visibility is good and we can find them again!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3337724700068697797.post-16946258887468489972012-05-28T03:45:00.001+01:002012-05-28T03:45:20.197+01:00Day 10: Fish and Ships<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today's blog is written by Rosanna from the University of Glasgow, about her fishy interests!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Smhr_pPDAs0/T8LmRv-LnlI/AAAAAAAABE8/tOb40o18JmU/s1600/Murray+ROV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Smhr_pPDAs0/T8LmRv-LnlI/AAAAAAAABE8/tOb40o18JmU/s200/Murray+ROV.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Live High-Def ROV footage</td></tr>
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So unlike most of the other scientists on board the ship, my main interest on this cruise is not in the deep-water corals themselves, but rather in the role they play in providing habitats for fish. As we go deeper into the ocean depths, the amount of hard substrate available for animals to live on decreases rapidly, which means that there is mostly only mud for animals to live in. Places where there are rocky or biological reefs provide more complex structures for animals to live in, which means in turn that there is more space for lots of different animals to live there. For small invertebrates, deep-water coral reefs have been shown to support a much higher diversity and abundance of species than surrounding soft sediment areas, with the highest diversities being found in the areas of dead coral rubble that surround living reefs. However, the importance of deep-water corals for fish species is less clear and that’s where I come in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaqgkERdv1w/T8Lj6FeV59I/AAAAAAAABEs/p1JMP4vHoZA/s1600/Murray+%2526+Geoff+ROV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaqgkERdv1w/T8Lj6FeV59I/AAAAAAAABEs/p1JMP4vHoZA/s200/Murray+%2526+Geoff+ROV.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ROV command centre</td></tr>
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At the moment, I’m studying for a PhD at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) which is looking at the effects of human and natural factors affecting deep-sea fishes in a variety of different areas and habitats. So, what I’m interested in studying during this cruise is to look at how the coral reefs affect the distribution of different fish and whether the species found around the reef areas are different from those from the off-reef areas. This in turn will allow me to compare the results of this study to other studies I’m conducting on spatial patterns of habitat use in abyssal regions (4500m-4800m) and also to a study on how fish react to oil-production structures on the shelf slope (1500m).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GIvWgmciLGw/T8LkjDFGmaI/AAAAAAAABE0/_GLCrTGjsL4/s1600/Karl+and+the+ladies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GIvWgmciLGw/T8LkjDFGmaI/AAAAAAAABE0/_GLCrTGjsL4/s200/Karl+and+the+ladies.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Scientists in the sun</td></tr>
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Although I’m not able to conduct a specifically designed transect survey during this cruise due to the extreme time pressures placed on the ROV (everyone’s got work to do with it after all), there is plenty of ‘opportunistic’ footage which I can use while all these other activities take place, and I’ve so far got some nice habitat surveys at Mingulay and across part of a reef at Rockall so far as well. The visibility wasn’t too great at Mingulay since we’re right in the middle of the spring plankton bloom, but now we’re at the deeper site things are looking much better and we’re getting some great footage of the reefs already, and there are fish everywhere!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com