Projects

#	Project	Description	Missions	Members
1	Trials		10	0
2	MASSMO		12	0
3	BAS		3	1
10	BoBBLE	The Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment	1	0
16	Extended Ellet Line	<p>The Extended Ellett Line (EEL) is a full-depth hydrographic section between Scotland, Rockall, and Iceland. It is designed to capture the shallow, warm inflow into the subpolar gyre and the Nordic Seas and the deep, cold return flow that contributes to the lower branch of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The objective is to make an annual occupation of the EEL section and create a time series of the evolution of the Northeast Atlantic. The Ellett Line has been occupied since 1975 and its extension since 1996, making it one of the longest-running<br /> deep-ocean annual repeat hydrographic sections.<br /> <br /> Data from the EEL are delivered to BODC within a year of collection and from there they are available to the community. Results are reported via the EEL website<br /> http://prj.noc.ac.uk/ExtendedEllettLine/home and through an annual report. Furthermore, the EEL is an ICES standard section and data are incorporated into the<br /> ICES annual climate report, the Climate Impacts Annual Report Card by UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership, and the Charting Progress reports published by DEFRA.<br /> <br /> The annual CTD hydrographic section from Scotland to Iceland consists of approximately 75 full depth stations requiring 14 days to complete, including time for bad weather contingency. In addition to the primary goals of measuring temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrients, velocity, and carbon parameters, there may be other, opportunistic, data collection for gases (underway sampling) and trace metals (samples taken from the extra water in the Niskin bottles). Furthermore, given that this area is a hotspot of glider activity, there may be opportunistic glider recoveries or deployments.</p>	1	0
4	SSB	The Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) programme aims to reduce uncertainty in our process understanding of the cycling of nutrients and carbon, and the controls on primary and secondary production in both the UK and NW European shelf seas, and in wider global biogeochemical cycles.	6	0
11	Aber Sailbot		1	0
12	OSNAP		7	0
8	Autosub Trials		9	0
13	EEL	<p>Extended Ellett Line</p>	2	0
14	DynOPO	<p>Dynamics of the Orkney Passage Outflow (DynOPO)</p>	1	0
15	VoiLA	Volatiles in the Lesser Antilles	1	0
17	Arctic PRIZE	<p>Arctic PRIZE will address a fundamental question in Arctic biology: How will projected shifts in the spatial distribution of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean modify mixing and light in the surface ocean, and what is the net effect of these physical changes on the quantities, timing and rates of PP, phytoplankton taxonomic composition, and their pelagic and benthic consumers? This project will conduct coordinated physical, chemical and biological observations of the water column within the seasonal ice zone of the Barents Sea. Arctic PRIZE has a strong seasonal perspective and focuses on the critically important but under-sampled transition from polar winter into the post-bloom summer. Data will identify controls on pelagic primary production, combining a detailed view of the physiochemical drivers with experiments resolving the role of diversity and plasticity. Zooplankton studies will likewise resolve multiple, competing impacts and the role of behavioral responses in shaping trophic transfer. Linked benthic observations will complete this picture of how energy moves from phytoplankton through the food web in response to sea-ice retreat. Biological models that capture these processes will be validated in detail, tested for portability across the Barents Sea and contrasting Pacific Arctic systems, and subsequently integrated into NEMO/MEDUSA and prominent, parallel modelling efforts in the US and Norway. These models are components of climate and earth system models. Arctic PRIZE will improve the predictive skill of these systems in terms of ecosystem function, its fate and the impact of projected sea ice retreat. </p>	3	0
20	GO-CART		3	0
21	Orchestra		2	0
19	Mermeed	<p>The proposed work will assess the dissipation in mesoscale eddies at the western boundary of the Atlantic, where westward propagating eddies and Rossby waves disappear from satellite observations (Zhai et al., 2010). Observations from the RAPID array suggest that eddies and Rossby waves undergo dissipation or conversion to higher modes at the western boundary, but are insufficient to isolate the mechanisms responsible. The planned work will measure the circulation and mixing at the boundary, with a small-boat component and cost-effective enhancement of the RAPID mooring array presently deployed at the site. We expect these measurements will yield unprecedented insight into the processes responsible for dissipating mesoscale eddies.<br /> <br /> The work is divided into three main components.<br /> <br /> (1) Small-boat expeditions using microstructure profilers and expendable current profilers are planned to make subsurface measurements of two types of eddies: anticyclones and cyclones, at their peak and tail end. Eddy arrival at the boundary can be predicted approximately 80-100 days in advance by using satellite altimetry. Since this is not early enough to schedule NERCs larger research vessels, we plan for this part of the work to be carried out on small vessels hired locally. Given the proximity of the study location to shore (25-60 km off of Abaco, Bahamas), this is achievable with the capabilities of smaller vessels.<br /> <br /> (2) Seaglider deployment. Standard seagliders will be used to determine the evolution of eddies and their decay, over their lifecycle at the boundary (~3 months). We propose a pair of Seagliders to be deployed and recovered during the small-boat expeditions. Following the successful execution of the OSMOSIS project, we request two gliders to profile simultaneously for each of two 3-month missions.<br /> <br /> (3) Mooring enhancements on RAPID. To put the two eddy "snapshots" in context of longer term variability, we propose to enhance the WB1 mooring on RAPID (26.501 deg N, 76.816 deg W in 1400 m of water) with 24 thermistors and 2 x 75 kHz ADCP at the bottom and middle, upward looking.</p>	2	0
18	AlterECO	<h2>An Alternative Framework to Assess Marine Ecosystem Functioning in Shelf Seas</h2> <p>AlterEco seeks to demonstrate a novel monitoring framework to deliver improved understanding of key shelf sea ecosystem drivers. We will capitalise on recent UK investments in marine autonomous vehicles and planning capability to investigate an area of the North Sea known to undergo variable physical, chemical and biological conditions throughout an entire seasonal cycle, including areas identified to experience low bottom layer oxygen levels during summer months. Ocean gliders will be used to undertake repeat transects over a distance of ~150km, sufficient to capture important shelf sea features; such as fronts and eddies. The AlterEco strategy will employ small fleets of vehicles to capture these meso-scale features (typically ~100km in scale) but will also resolve sub-mesoscale variability (~100m). We will benefit from successes and lessons learnt from recent, pioneering deployments of underwater gliders and use a suite of sensors that permit high-resolution coincident measurements of key ecosystem indicators. Combining the expertise within the AlterEco team we will not only provide a new framework for marine observations that has global transferability, but also the diagnostic capability to improve understanding of shelf sea ecosystem health and function.</p>	7	1
22	ACSIS	<p>Following deployment from offshore of Telde, Gran Canaria the ASVs will transit to the test sites by harnessing wave energy as the form of propulsion. Test data will be transferred from the moorings and relayed to shore by satellite communications. On successful completion of the data transfers the ASVs will progress towards the EBHi mooring site (in international waters south west of the Canary Islands) to test the long-term performance of the wave-powered propulsion, before returning to offshore of Telde, Gran Canaria for recovery to shore.</p>	1	0
23	SOLSTICE		3	0
24	CUSTARD	<p>The main aim of the Carbon Uptake and Seasonal Traits in the Antarctic Remineralisation Depth (CUSTARD) project is to quantify the seasonal drivers of carbon fluxes in a region of the Southern Ocean upper limb, and estimate how long different quantities of carbon are kept out of the atmosphere based on the water flow routes at the observed remineralisation depths.</p> <p> </p> <p>All the observational data from the project will be collected at and south of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Global Southern Ocean Array, located south-west of Chile.</p>	2	0
25	Nexuss	<p>The Next Generation Unmanned Systems Science (NEXUSS) Centre for Doctoral Training is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and led by the University of Southampton, in partnership with five other leading academic and research organisations (British Antarctic Survey, Heriot-Watt University, National Oceanography Centre, Scottish Association for Marine Science and University of East Anglia).</p>	1	1
26	TERIFIC	<p>The gliders will be deployed from Qaqortoq, Greenland in December 2019, aiming to cross to the western side of the Labrador Sea (takes about 2-3 weeks) and make sections between the centre of the well-mixed interior waters and the stratified Labrador shelf waters.  The exact ‘formation’ of these sections is yet to be decided.  During the following months, winter mixed layer depths (MLDs) will deepen, particularly in the interior region, with maximal MLDs (up to or exceeding 1000m) anticipated in mid-February to mid-March.  Following the springtime restratification, in March to April, the gliders will continue making these repeat sections until about 80% battery utilisation (threshold to be determined with MARS), after which they will turn southward in the Labrador current to navigate to Trinity Bay, Canada for recovery. </p> <p><strong>Primary objective:</strong> The <em>primary aim</em> of the autonomous observational campaign (gliders and surface vehicle) is to capture the lateral and vertical mixing during convection in the Labrador Sea to better understand (a) how lateral mixing processes modify the surface buoyancy-forced watermass transformation and (b) the combined effect of buoyancy forcing and lateral mixing on the densities of water on the western continental slope.</p>	1	0
27	HECLA		5	0
28	CAMPUS	<p>Combining Autonomous observations and Models for Predicting and Understanding Shelf seas – CAMPUS</p> <p> </p> <p>CAMPUS has the following objectives:</p> <p>1. Deliver improved evidence base for compliance with EU directives and strategic planning of marine use.<em> This will require a step change in communication and exchange between observing systems and model systems, including optimising the use of data for assimilation, evaluation and development of model systems. </em>Specific indicators of success will include improved prediction of episodic events, in particular the spring bloom, HABS and oxygen depletion, as well as an improved prediction of interannual variability.</p> <p>2. Identify a cost-effective fit for purpose optimised observing network and the priority actions required to achieve this. This will result in a <em>step change in efficiency and utility of UK observing systems, and including a consideration of the key spatial and temporal scales of variability. The </em>indicator of success will be a recommended observational strategy, evaluated by a pilot study conducted during the project.</p>	1	0
29	EUMR	<p>EU Marine Robots aims to open up key national and regional marine robotics research infrastructures (RIs) to all European and international partners, from both academia and industry, ensuring their optimal use and joint development to establish a world-class marine robotics integrated infrastructure.<br /> To achieve this EUMR offers Trans-National Access (TNA) calls that provide successful applicants access to EUMR partner infrastructure. </p>	1	0
30	HUDSON		2	5
31	REPMUS		1	0
32	Met Office Gliders		3	0