Day 3 ...ominous sky

I’m sitting here listening to Belle and Sebastian, Dear Catastrophe waitress and looking at a flat calm sea surface, its approx. 19 degrees and I can see the Orkneys to my left and somewhere in the distance the Shetlands to the right. Jaime and Neil hard at work changing the position of the flash for the camera. We have just had the most delicious spicy fish soup and I am happy. I am bird watching today also and cetacean watching: Today I observed, lesser black-backed gulls, kittiwakes (I think), fulmars, gannets, guillemots, Juvenile commorants and flying like the wind an auk, it’s a wee auk! For those interested in seabirds go to http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/features/seabirds.asp For those interested in Marine mammals go to http://www.seawatch.org.uk Or contact the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), even better still, try and take photos of the animals you find and email them to MCS. I’ve got an even better idea, join them. Just as we were out on the aft deck post safety demonstration, a sinister cloud cover was looming in the distance and I can say that I have never seen anything like it. We were moving into a front, one second sun, the next, wind picking up and the hairs on the back of your neck standing up as the rain begins. I have never seen cloud formations like it… Just at that point, two fins are seen ploughing through the water… I think what we seen was maybe pilot whale, however, a white stripe was seen on one, this would orca or white sided dolphin, or perhaps it had an injury … who knows!

Day 3...safety time!

I woke with an early start, 7 am to be exact, however after last nights late night camera tweeking and transponder problems with the CTD I went back to sleep. It was my first night and I wanted to learn as much as possible and the camera had to be calibrated at various depths and just right for the water test.
I woke at 10 am again, entered the galley and began our first safety tour. With work books at hand Niklas led us to the bridge in order to introduce us to Captain (Master) Christer. We got a grand tour of ship including the engine room, the Poop deck, CO2 room…
At 3pm, we would have an emergency practical. So we got ready for the call… unfortunately we were bird watching on the side deck and near the vents and didn’t hear the alarm. However, we proceeded to gather on deck and try out the floatation suits… It was difficult and I feel that the outfit really did suit me, this cannot be said for Beth’s suit though…absolutely hilarious!

Day 3 contd...

Real Data Break… So how do we collect this kind of data…
We have two surveys going on side by side, an acoustic and biological or ground-truthing survey.
In order to work out what kind of experimental transects we carry out. The multibeam echosounder is the first tool employed. These are also known as Swathe and were developed in the 1970s by the US Navy in order to map large swaths of the ocean floor to assist the underwater navigation of its submarine force. As technology improved until the 1990s, higher frequency systems suitable for high-resolution mapping in shallow water were developed in support of navigational charting. It works by sending an array of sound signals in a fan shape from a transducer at the bottom of the ship. The sound travels through the water, reflects off the seafloor and returns to the transducer, where the time taken for the return trip is measured (see diagram). A simple formula can work out the depth and as the ship moves (approx speed of 3-4 knts) the depths are continuously recorded.
We use the backscatter from the multibeam in order to infer the roughness of the seabed. The level of blackness component of the multibeam represents the level of reflectivity of the seabed, where white represents hard ground and black soft ground. A lot of analysis post-deployment takes place where the signals are cleaned in order to remove anomalous results, e.g., a signal arising from a passing fish.
We employ deep tow side scan sonar in the deeper areas. It provides high resolution images at depths that surpass those of analog systems.
Before deep tow, we deploy the SVP. This is the Sound Velocity Profile. The SVP reveals some common structure to the ocean. The largest variation is the speed of sound in water, it occurs with changes in depth, the SVP is the tool used for predicting how sound will travel.
For those who want to know more see http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/navy/docs/es310/SNR_PROP/snr_prop.htm
Transects or lines are planned on the basis of results from the multibeam and or deep tow. We need to get data from a range of depths, habitat boundaries, ridges, flat areas…
The images are captured by a video and camera specially designed for the deep, all encased in a frame that is also a lander. Attached here is also a Conductivity Temperature Depth profiler (CTD). The boat will move into a position at the start of the line and deep vid-cam system lowered and will follow the line as much as possible. There will be currents and internal waves at work in thewater column, so manoeuvrability can be difficult. The video is continuously recording and is kept as close to the seabed as possible. The system is landed and photographs are taken every minute as a statistical image. However, photographs are to be taken when needed to document everything occurring down there.

Day 3

First up- where are we going? To Anton Dohrn seamount and Rockhall
The seamount is an undersea mountain (usually of volcanic origin), of heights above 1000 m. The islands of Hawaii, the Azores and Bermuda were all underwater seamounts at one point in the past. Studies have been done to investigate the flora and fauna surrounding these seamount as they are observed as hotspots of marine life. As they stand proud of the surrounding seabed, they tend to concentrate water currents and they can have their own localised tides and upwellings. Anton Dohrn is indeed an interesting g place to study and we want to see if the south-east area differs from the north-west area.
Rockhall is a small, uninhabited , rocky islet in the north Atlantic Ocean. The rock is the summit of an extinct volcano and is located approx 430 km, north-west of Donegal in Ireland. The surrounding elevated seabed is called the Rockhall Bank /Plateau. It is separated from the Western Isles by the Rockhall Trough and Anton Dohrn sits in the Trough about halfway between Rockhall and the outer Hebrides. The area is under great dispute regarding fishing rights and a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been implemented in the area. East Rockhall does not contain a lot of data and since there is the potential for another closed area here, good data needs to be acquired.

Day 2

Breakfast at 8.30 in the hotel, I am packed and ready to go…

The first sight of M/V Franklin, a Swedish Vessel and one that I am told is pretty good on the cuisine front, that’s good for me and Jaime, who actually eats much more than I do. I did expect to see a quite retro looking chill out area or mess, as they are traditionally called. I was not wrong. This vessel has been fitted out with only the sharpest Ikea goodies. The day was spent making introductions mainly with the Marin Mätteknik (MMT AB) scientific crew and finding my way around the vessel. A cruise meeting was called in order to make sure that we are all clear on the priorities of the trip and what data we need to collect and the best approach.

ganska bra, eh?

The last time I was in Aberdeen I was dropping off a friend who had decided to live here for a while, so while I was sitting out in the evening sun admiring the scenery of the harbour, I was brought back to my Master of Oceanography days in Southampton and pestering lead scientists in order to get a berth on a research vessel, now I’m doing it… whooohoooooa! I’ll give ya’ll the science tomorrow!


Did I say I found the moon-pool?!



Last night en route out of the harbour, I got the fist look at the deep Vid-Cam system. The evening was spent working with trigonometry in order to make sure the angles of both the camera and video were accurate. See some of the team at work; Neil (JNCC), Therese (JNCC) and Dave (BGS). Camera calibration was due shortly after using a grid which still bore the sweat, tears and nails of the ladies who built it on the last cruise. The deep Vid-Cam system has to be calibrated at 0, 1, 2 and 3 m off the seabed in order for accurate analysis post tow!





Finally, here's a taster with a little more on the kinetics - enjoy, and stay tuned!

Day 1

Day 1 and we are en route to Aberdeen. I am excited and nervous but really looking forward to setting sail on this, my first offshore mission to save the deep! There comes a time in every marine biologist’s life that missions like these need to take place, away from the desk! I have been working on cold-water corals, fisheries and conservation for a while, but I find myself wondering why am I doing this? What is all the fuss about? But really, since Dr Kerry Howell got me involved in deep sea video and image analysis, I have been blown away by the beauty of the flora and fauna in this, once thought of barren land.

The deep sea is traditionally classified as an area of the sea below 200 m. The first surveys of the deep seas of the North Atlantic were conducted by Sir Charles Wyville Thomson aboard the vessels H.M.S Porcupine and H.M.S Lightning, heralding the early development of deep-sea biology. For those who may wish to read these incredible voyages see, The Depths of the Sea, by Sir Charles himself, published in 1873. There have been many books published since then, but one that also comes to mind is The Silent Deep: the Discovery, ecology and conservation of the deep sea, by JA Koslow. However, a website was set up in order to fully engage the public in matters of the deepest kind… http://www.deepseaconservation.org.uk

We have just scratched the surface of the deep during the development of technology over the past 20 years and there is still a lot we do not fully understand about the biological, chemical and physical processes that occur down there. We know more about the moon then the deep sea and since the earth is 75 % water, we all should pay more attention to what lies beneath. The deep trenches of our oceans are being discussed as CO ₂ sequestering sites, some of the fish you eat comes from trawlers fishing at depths of 1500 m (yes some of you may think you are eating cod from the fish & chip shop…), some deep sea sponges harbour component chemicals that are being used as we speak to treat certain cancers. So yes folks, the deep ocean is Out of Sight but not Out of Mind

I am here to support Jaime Davies, an intrepid exploreress! of the coolest kind, who is here with Dave Long from British Geological Survey (BGS) and members of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) offshore team. The aim to classify the benthos of the Anton Dohrn seamount and East Rockhall and ongoing study in order to classify and map the deep water benthic communities on UK seamounts, ridges, banks and canyons. This kind of study is fundamental to informing the Marine Protected Area (MPA) creation process.

It is now 11 pm and we are leaving the beautiful Italian restaurant Rustico. The taxi ride back to the hotel is quiet and contemplative as I follow the edge of the coast to the sea and watch the vessels arrive into the harbour through the light mist of the evening. I think, tomorrow evening I will be experiencing that same quiet riot as I look at the edge of the coast to the land and I smile.

Deep-sea creatures

Sorry folks I have been working working and working and have no time for the adventure blog...until now that is..........Well it is one week until I GO DEEP!

The only adventure offshore I may get during my PhD and it is with my 6th floor Davy partner in crime, Jaime! We will be going to the Anton Dorhn seamount and Rockhall bank on the west coast of Ireland for 3.5 weeks approximately with a swedish vessel RV Franklin.

I am nervous and excited all at the same time. The aim is to perform video transects of the benthos and also collect high quality stills images and maybe try and undertake grabs and bring some samples back to the lab.

Now is the time to bug the se sickness tabs and load myself up with ginger.......... for now back to work folks. This is just a little taster, I will post some piccies and maps at the end of the day.

Signing out,
Maria