Webzine features science adventures aboard Harbor Branch Oceanographic's research ships. Live coverage and original articles.

The overall aim of this project is to explore, simulate and design an acoustic concept for long-term monitoring of the ocean temperature and ice thickness in the Arctic Ocean for global warming detection.

ATOC's primary goal is to gather information about temperatures in the ocean in order to verify existing climate models. The technique, of sending sound across entire oceans, is expected to yield extremely valuable data, in both detail and scope.

ADP is run by Blue World, a non-profit NGO dedicated to the preservation of the marine ecosystem. It focuses particularly on research and conservation of bottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic Sea, but also aims at protecting whole marine environment through research, conservation and education activities.

A research project investigating the way the sea and the atmosphere exchange greenhouse gases.

consists of measurements from coastal tide gauges and bottom pressure stations, together with an ongoing research programme in satellite altimetry in the South Atlantic and Southern Oceans.

Concentrating on the understanding of Arctic Ocean variability and change including sea ice processes.

Argo is a global array of 3,000 free-drifting profiling floats that will measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean in or near real-time. The programme involves a team of International scientists.

will establish a network of European researchers involved in geochemical and biological processes in the deep sea of the Atlantic. The network will be used for the exchange of biogeochemical benthic data and aims at integrating present knowledge of processes at the deep sea floor.

The programme undertakes biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research during the annual return passage of the RRS James Clark Ross from the UK to the Falkland Islands in September and from the Falklands to the UK in May. During the first phase of the project (1995 to 1999), twelve research cruises took place, providing a coherent set of repeated measurements over ocean basin scales. A second phase of the project is now underway, and will include six cruises between 2002 and 2005. These will sample further into the centre of the North and South Atlantic Ocean and along the north-west coast of Africa.

The British Oceanographic Data Centre is responsible for the management of data sets arising from the AMT programme. The role is to assemble quality-controlled data from all cruises into a relational database, so that spatial and temporal links between multiple parameters are maintained.

A UK NERC Thematic Research Programme to investigate the chemistry of the lower atmosphere (0 - 12 km) over the oceans. The studies aim to bring about a clearer understanding of natural processes in the remote marine atmosphere, and how these processes are affected by atmospheric pollution originating from the continents. This information is vital in understanding regional and global-scale changes in atmospheric chemistry and climate.

Atmospheric Deposition and Impact of pollutants, key elements and nutrients on the Open Mediterranean Sea. Aims at understanding the magnitude, timing and geographical distribution of atmospheric deposition and impact of selected pollutants, key elements and nutrients on the Mediterranean open sea, an ecologically sensitive marine environment.

The principal aim of this EC MAST III initiative is to create a European fleet of autonomous lander vehicles that can operate together in joint research projects. The different groups will build lander vehicles to carry out a variety of experiments ranging from sediment probes to fish tracking.

The study aims to develop and test (in both laboratory and the field) an autonomous atmospheric measuring system which will measure surface stress, sensible and latent heat flux and also carbon dioxide flux.

A 5-year, £5.86 million programme to explore the marine environment beneath floating ice shelves using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the programme brings together UK researchers from a broad range of disciplines to investigate the role of sub-ice shelf processes in the climate system.

The objectives of this project are to determine the interrelationships between the physical properties of ecosystems and the ecology of organisms in the generation of biodiversity, to measure objectively the resultant diversity and to produce operational concepts of biodiversity which are of general applicability and importance.

An EC MAST III study to create and analyse experimental process data for optimization and verification of atmosphere-ice-ocean models.

BALTEX is designed as a cage experiment to assess the total heat and water flux divergence of the BALTEX area. The basic BALTEX programme elements include numerical modelling, data assimilation, experimental and numerical process studies, re-analysis of existing data sets, and application of remote sensing.

BASYS aims to further the understanding of the susceptibility of the Baltic Sea to external forcing and to improve the quantification of past and present fluxes in the area.

A weekly record of phytoplankton, bacterioplankton, nutrients, temperature, salinity and oxygen at the deepest point of the Halifax Harbour inlet system (Canada).

The BENGAL project is a high resolution temporal and spatial study of the BENthic biology and Geochemistry of a north-eastern Atlantic abyssal Locality. This project has the general objective of understanding how the physics, chemistry and biology of the abyssal benthic boundary layer respond to, and modify the incoming chemical signal from the overlying surface layers and thus affect the palaeoceanographic record in the underlying sediment.

A long time-series study of biogeochemical cycles of the sea near Bermuda.

The goal of this research is to evaluate the potential of using biological markers determined in marine organisms as a means of assessment of chemical contamination and to investigate the socio-economic implications for certain selected zones.

Project started in 1999 as co-operation between major regional marine research institutions with support of NATO Science for Peace Programme to explore, quantify and predict ecosystem variability of the Black Sea

Focused on the functioning of the marine system in the Canary-Azores-Gibraltar region of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean and its links with the Alboran Sea through comprehensive interdisciplinary basin scale studies. Results offered in CD format.

The German contribution to the international CLIVAR program contributes mainly to climate variability on scales of decadal and longer periods, with emphasis on the role of the ocean for the dynamics and predictability of long-term climate variations.

An interdisciplinary research effort within the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) focussing on the variability and predictability of the slowly varying components of the climate system. It investigates the physical and dynamical processes in the climate system that occur on seasonal, interannual, decadal and centennial time-scales.

CLIVAMP is a research program whose objective is to investigate the long term variations of the thermohaline circulation of the Mediterranean Sea for time scales ranging from interannual up to changes during the ice ages. CLIVAMP will thus study the different states of the Mediterranean Sea during the past, its paleo-circulation and the processes affecting the ventilation and the overturning of the water masses.

The overall aim of the NERC CCMS "COIN" project is to improve the understanding of the active processes in coastal and shelf seas and their essential interactions, thereby enabling the development of coupled models for forecasting and management into the next century.

An ambitious seven-year programme of research into the development of methods for making predictions of coastal morphology over periods of up to decades.

The project is intended to help develop and trial a methodology to allow EU member states to fulfil essential obligations under Article 6.2 of the Habitats Directive. In the UK this is reinforced by MAFF High Level Targets for Flood and Coastal Defence, and will support the delivery of Biological Action Plans aimed at securing the management of Natura 2000 sites.

The purpose of the COAST3D project is to improve understanding of the physics of coastal sand transport and morphodynamics, and to produce validated modelling tools, and methodologies for their use, in a form suitable for coastal zone management.

sets out to meet the challenge to merge theoretical aspects, new field observations, laboratory measurements, and computer-generated data sets with computational and numerical considerations with the ultimate goal of significantly improving second-moment closure models.

Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science runs the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey, a long term plankton survey in the North Atlantic and North Sea. The database is online.

Copepod - Diatom relations research by the University of Washington's School of Oceanography.

Coriolis is a French project for operational oceanography contributing to the in-situ part of the system, with the objective of developing continuous, automatic and permanent observation networks. The data collected will enable water properties such as temperature, and ocean circulation to be mapped.

Prediction of Cohesive Sediment transport and bed morphodynamics in estuaries and coastal zones with Integrated Numerical Simulation models.

COHERENS is a European funded project for the scientific and technical validation and the dissemination and exploitation of a three-dimensional integrated model for coastal and shelf seas developed over the period 1990-1996 within two previous MAST projects.

The goal of COAPEC is to determine the impact on climate, especially European climate, of the coupling between the Atlantic Ocean and the atmosphere, including the influence of ENSO on this coupling.

Research on deep water marine sediments that applies deep tow high resolution seismic and sediment core analysis. Gulf of Mexico bathymetry maps and marine geology links are available.

EDIOS will be a searchable marine Directory of the ocean observing, measuring, and monitoring systems operating in Europe and is an initiative of EuroGOOS (European Global Ocean-observing System).

EnviWave's main objective is to validate altimenter and ASAR wind and wave sensors against buoys, wave models and other satellites.

Ocean Data Assimilation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MIT.

A consortium formed by a group of scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) with the technical goal of the sustained production and evaluation of continuing three-dimensional estimates of the global state of the ocean in near-real time in support programs such as GODAE and CLIVAR.

Involves eight research institutes and universities in Europe offering employment to pre-doc and post-doc researchers interested in working on "Assessment of continental slope stability" and "Deep carbonate mounds and reefs".

The overall objective of the ENAM II project is to quantify and model large-scale sedimentary processes and material fluxes in the north Atlantic and to assess their relation to the variability of oceanic and cryospheric processes. The timing, causes and flow behaviour of mass wasting events and the relationship between mass wasting events and deep-sea fan developments are to be determined in order to understand the spatial and temporal variability of marine systems from the shelf edge to the continental slope and the deep sea.

Centralised depository of European Sea Level Data.

Comprises a network of long-term, sea floor, multi-disciplinary observatories at key provinces around the European margin providing continuous vigilance in relation to geophysical, biogeochemical, oceanographic and biological phenomena.

Aims to improve scientific knowledge and understanding of the development and downwearing of shore platforms and of the relationships between shore platform change and the rates of retreat of sea cliffs on the landward side of the platforms.

Project commissioned by the General Directorate Environment of the European Commission, which will result in policy recommendations on how to manage coastal erosion in Europe in the most sustainable way.

The study is designed to answer questions about the interchange between Florida Bay waters and the coastal waters of the Florida Keys. In addition, it will characterize the seasonal and potentially the annual variability in the background currents in Florida Bay and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

A common initiative of the regions surrounding Skagerrak, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, to find solutions to prioritised environmental problems where co-operation can lead to effective measures. The project, was partly financed by EU Interreg IIC and ran from October 1999 to June 2001 with a budget of 600K Euro.

This EU-CEO project will use satellite altimeter and radiometer data assimilated into global ocean models, to provide ocean current, temperature and salinity boundary conditions for shelf and coastal models which predict sea-levels and currents around Europe.

Assisting developing countries to implement effective measures to control the introduction of foreign marine species.

Large scale ocean research programme involving an international community of scientists studying harmful algal blooms (HABs).

a cooperative effort to generate a unified data set and to determine the global distribution and inventories of inorganic nutrients, both natural and anthropogenic carbon species and natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon from data acquired from several projects such as WOCE, JGOFS, OACES.

aims to advance our understanding of the global ocean ecosystem and how it responds to global climate change. GLOBEC investigates the links between climate and marine ecosystems.

The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) is intended to be a permanent global system for observations, modelling and analysis of marine and ocean variables needed to support operational ocean services worldwide.

GRACE will be able to map the Earth's gravity fields by making accurate measurements of the distance between two satellites, using GPS and a microwave ranging system. It will provide scientists with a way to map the Earth's gravity fields. The results from this mission will yield information about the distribution and flow of mass within the Earth and its oceans and surroundings.

an effort to assist countries adjacent to the guinea current ecosystem to achieve environmental and resource sustainability.

Established in 1984, conducts research on the impacts and consequences of submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal venting on the global ocean.

An international field experiment in the Indian Ocean during 1999 to study natural and anthropogenic climate forcing by aerosols and feedbacks on regional and global climate.

The INDIA Project is motivated primarily by a requirement to improve understanding of the interacting hydrodynamic and sedimentological processes at work in the European coastal zone and to develop improved methodologies to predict changes in morphology. Undertaking such a study requires a dynamic natural field site where processes are sufficiently active to result in observable changes in the physical environment over a time span commensurate with a realistic field campaign.

Comparative analysis of institutional arrangement experiences and needs for Integrated Coastal Zone Management in France, Norway and Greece.

A new international partnership of scientists and research institutions organized to explore Earth's structure and history through scientific ocean drilling. The research program will start in October 2003.

A regional research programme for the sustainable management of the Gulf of Thailand. Objectives are to establish an institutional and information network on scientific and socio-economic data collection, exchange, analysis and integration, to develop the capacity of the region to collect and analyze data, and to integrate multidisciplinary data into formats usable by various sectors.

a global program to collect and study marine sediment records. The overriding IMAGES science issue is to quantify climate and chemical variability of the ocean on time scales of oceanic and cryospheric processes; to determine its sensitivity to identified internal and external forcings, and to determine its role in controlling atmospheric CO2.

An international and interdisciplinary initiative concerned with all aspects of mid-ocean ridges.

an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, discover the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño conditions and ocean eddies. The Jason-1 satellite carries a radar altimeter and it is a follow-on mission to the highly successful TOPEX/Poseidon mission. It is joint mission between France and USA. The satellite will be launched in May 2000.

The principal objective is to investigate which parts of Britain's coastline may have experienced an increase in wave height similar to that observed by satellites in the surrounding seas. The project is funded by the British National Space Centre and the UK Environment Agency.

An international programme to assess more accurately, and understand better the processes controlling, regional to global and seasonal to interannual fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere, surface ocean and ocean interior, and their sensitivity to climate changes.

LOIS was a 6 year project (1992 - 1998) of the UK's Natural Environment Research Council involving over 360 scientists from 11 institutes and 27 universities. This project was the United Kingdom's contribution to LOICZ. It aims were to quantify and simulate the fluxes and transformations of materials (sediments, nutrients, contaminants) into and out of the coastal zone, extending from the catchment to the edge of the continental shelf. The main study area, embracing river catchments, estuaries and coastal seas, was the UK East Coast from Berwick upon Tweed to Great Yarmouth, concentrating on the Humber and its catchment, and to a lesser extent the River Tweed. The shelf edge study was focused on an area to the west of Scotland.

The LOICZ Project focuses on the area of the earth's surface where land, ocean and atmosphere meet and interact. The overall goal of this project is to determine at regional and global scales: the nature of that dynamic interaction; how changes in various components of the Earth system are affecting coastal zones and altering their role in global cycles; to assess how future changes in these areas will affect their use by people; to provide a sound scientific basis for future integrated management of coastal areas on a sustainable basis.

Addressing the impact of sea level rise and the UK flood and coastal defence response on the internationally important habitats protected by the UK Habitats and Birds Directive.

The overall aim of ROBLINKS is to develop and test robust coherent acoustic communications at long ranges in shallow water at data rates in excess of 1 kbit/s.

The LATEX Program is a six-year oceanographic research initiative that has as its principal objective the identification of key dynamical processes governing the circulation, transport, and cross-shelf mixing of the waters on the Texas-Louisiana shelf

Uses novel syntheses of existing long-term data on temperature-sensitive, readily observed intertidal climate indicator species to make predictions on changes in coastal diversity that may result from global warming.

Concerned with potential eutrophication problems in coastal seas and the role of atmospheric deposition to these problems. Involved field experiments in the Kattegat, the results from which were used to develop predictive computer models.

A Thematic Programme of the Natural Environment Research Council. It is funded for a period of five years starting in 2000. Its aim is to develop coupled modelling and observational systems for the pelagic ecosystem, with emphasis on physical factors affecting zooplankton population dynamics. MarProd provides a major UK contribution to the international Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics project (GLOBEC).

Its aim is to develop coupled modelling and observational systems for the pelagic ecosystem, with emphasis on physical factors affecting zooplankton population dynamics. Marine Productivity provides a major UK contribution to the international Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics project (GLOBEC).

The overall objective of the MTP II MATER is to study and to quantify the triggering and controlling mechanisms of mass and energy transfer between the different compartments (land - sea, sea - atmosphere, water - sediment, living - non living, pelagos - benthos), in contrasting trophic environments (from eutrophic to oligotrophic) of the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the ecosystem response to such a transfer.

The main goals of the MEDATLAS project are to update the available data sets of temperature and salinity profiles measured in the Mediterranean Sea, to check its dataquality, to merge compiled datasets, update climatological statistics and to make the numerical data available for other users.

MEDEA is a combined experimental and theoretical approach towards understanding the mechanisms determining microbial ecosystem dynamics in the photic zone. Centered around an idealized conceptual/mathematical model, questions are addressed concerning mechanisms regulating structure and function of the food web.

The EC MAST III project is centered on an important and recently discovered genus of marine photosynthetic microorganism: Prochlorococcus. This prokaryote proliferates in oligotrophic areas, including the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and is the tiniest and numerically the most abundant photosynthetic organism and accounts for a large part (up to 50%) of the photosynthetic biomass and primary production in these areas.

The overall objective of MAIA is to develop an inexpensive, reliable system based on coastal sea-level data for monitoring the inflows of Atlantic Water to the northern seas. Available observation systems, including standard tidal stations, will be used to obtain transport estimates with a time resolution of less than a week and show that the method is generic and can be applied to a similar monitoring of other regions.

Measures, understands and models shelf-ocean exchange in a typical coastal upwelling region of the eastern boundary layer of the subtropical ocean.

The NorthEast Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments project is a regional-scale ocean observatory for interactive, real-time, long term ocean and earth studies and is led in Canada by the University of Victoria.

Project to establish a regional-scale ocean observatory in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The Project's 3,000-km network of fiber-optic/power cables will encircle and cross the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate in the northeast Pacific Ocean, an area roughly 500 km by 1,000 km in size. The project office is located at the University of Washington in Seattle.

aims ultimately to provide scientists with the capability to collect routine physical, biological, chemical and geophysical data, to depths of 6000 metres and over transects of several thousands of kilometres via autonomous underwater vehicles.

Real-time coastal monitoring project based in California designed to monitor a wide spectrum of temporal and spatial variability in the coastal ocean environment.

Hydrothermal vent monitoring - links intruments and a camera located within the caldera of a submarine volcano to the Internet.

The NEAT GIN experiment took place during September-October 1989 at the Norwegian shelf edge near 68°N. Seven moorings, five in a closely-spaced cross-slope section, have proved a valuable precursor to the Shelf Edge Study (SES) west of Scotland. The NEAT GIN data analysis has now been completed.

NPMR is dedicated to scientific research in the Bering Sea and adjacent waters, with the goal of better understanding the oceanic and ecological systems.

an intercomparison of advection-dispersion models for the North West European continental shelf presently available and being used at various institutes within the European Union.

Aims to study the three-dimensional ageostrophic circulation and quantitatively estimate the vertical velocity and to evaluate the impact of the ageostrophic vertical motion on biogeochemical properties.

The OCCAM project has developed two high resolution (1/4 and 1/8 degree) models of the World Ocean - including the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas such as the Mediterranean. The project is being carried out by researchers at the Southampton Oceanography Centre in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of East Anglia and Edinburgh.

The aim of this study is relate changes in the properties of the water column and associated sucessions in the phytoplankton with changes in optical properties and ocean colour. Models based on these relationships will be developed and validated. These models will facilitate the interpretation of measurements of ocean colour (remote or in-situ) in terms of the temporal and spatial structures of phytoplankton communities.

"An International Partnership in Geological Oceanography" -- Texas A&M University

Ocean Drilling Program in detail - Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Coloumbia University - Borehole Research Group.

Aimed at the geological understanding of ocean margins to improve prediction in exploration and reservoir characterisation for developing deep-water oil fields.

Ocean modeling, fitting and state estimation strategies (data assimilation) at Climate Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Impact of a Climatic Gradient on the Physiological Ecology of a Pelagic crustacean - a study of the functional marine biodiversity as a basis for understanding ecosystem structure, dynamics and resilience is focused on the Northern krill. The patterns of diversity in this species - an important component of Atlantic communities - will be investigated at specific locations in the north-eastern Atlantic, the Kattegat and the Meditarranean.

PROMISE's objectives are to develop a framework in which to optimise the application of existing pre-operational dynamical models of the North Sea and to quantify sediment exchange rates and scales between coast and the near-shore. PROMISE is an EU-RTD Project.

studies the role of physical processes controlling water-property distributions, suspended sediments controlling the availability of light, nutrients and phytoplankton growth. The project comprises development of a 3-D nearshore model, measurements in contrasted ROFIs and comparisons between them.

PROVESS is a joint European MAST III funded interdisciplinary study of vertical fluxes of properties through the water column and the surface and bottom boundaries based on the integrated application of new measuring techniques, new advances in turbulence theory and new models.

A £20 million, six-year (2001-2007) programme of the Natural Environment Research Council. The programme aims to improve our ability to quantify the probability and magnitude of future rapid change in climate, with a main (but not exclusive) focus on the role of the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation.

Aims to study severe storms, surges and waves in the present climate and in a scenario with increased CO2-concentration. More specifically the project is a joint atmospheric/oceanographic numerical modelling effort aiming at constructing and analysing storm, wave and surge climatologies for the North Atlantic/European region in a climate forced by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and to compare with present day conditions.

A project aimed at developing a robust, operational and cost-efficient remote sensing system for mapping submerged vegetation as a means of assessing the environmental quality of coastal waters.

The overall aim of this EC MAST III funded project is to better understand the (paleo) functioning of the eastern Mediterranean and to determine its role in the global environment by studying characteristic biogeochemical processes.

Activities focus on promoting international cooperation in planning and conducting oceanographic research, and solving methodological and conceptual problems that hinder research. Scientists from thirty-six SCOR member nations participate in SCOR working groups and steering committees.

Provides quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties to the Earth science community. Subtle changes in ocean color signify various types and quantities of marine phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants), the knowledge of which has both scientific and practical applications.

UK project for volunteer sports divers who have an interest in what they're seeing under water, want to learn more and want to help protect the marine environment. The main aim is to map out the various types of sea bed found in the near-shore zone, up to about 5 miles off the coast or 30m depth around the whole of the British Isles.

STABLE is a large instrument to measure sea bed currents. Rapidly changing 3-D turbulent currents are measured by three pairs of electromagnetic current meters, while slower, tidal currents are measured by four, red Savonius rotors and a current-direction vane. Water depth and wave-induced pressure changes are measured by two pressure transducers, while suspended sediment concentration profiles are measured by three acoustic backscatter sensors. Housekeeping functions are measured by a compass, pitch and roll sensors and two temperature sensors.

Addresses the crucial question of the eutrophication sources and what impact additional nitrogen has on the productivity in remote regions. The investigation was carried out in the Baltic Sea where the impact of eutrophication is one of the main threats to the ecosystem due to the 80 million people living in its watershed and the results will aid new management strategies.

A study into the "eutrophication" of estuarine and coastal waters by a team at the Southampton Oceanography Centre. (Site under development)

The overall goal of SAGA II was to evaluate the sources, distributions, and fates of climatically significant trace species in the remote, marine environment.

The project investigates the physical processes which take place in the surf zone on a coast with and without structures. The project shall lead to significantly improved description of the cross-shore and longshore transport, which mainly occurs within the surf zone.

The SCAWVEX project is addressing problems in wave and current development and their interaction in shallow water environments. The primary object is to measure the spatial and temporal variability of waves and currents in coastal regions utilising the full range of state of the art measurement techniques and models.

A new international research initiative which has as its goal: 'To achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and the atmosphere, and how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change'.

The Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) is an international programme coordinated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) for the establishment of high quality global and regional sea level networks for application to climate, oceanographic and coastal sea level research.

The objective is to understand the physical and biological processes which control the population dynamics of the copepod Calanus finmarchicus, a key zooplankton species in the north-east Atlantic. Establishing the relationship between the physical and biological factors affecting annual recruitment and reproduction of the species is an essential step towards predicting the consequences of future climate change.

The TAO Array of moored buoys measures oceanographic and surface meteorological variables critical for improved detection, understanding and prediction of seasonal-to-interannual climate variations originating in the tropics, most notably those related to the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

The US national component of the international Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) and an integral part of global climate change research. Supported primarily by the U.S. National Science Foundation in collaboration with the NOAA, NASA and the Department of Energy and the Office of Naval Research.

The vast coastline and seas around the UK have a remarkable marine natural heritage and provide rich resources for both work and recreation. These are treasures that need to be safeguarded and the UK Marine SACs Project is playing a major role in achieving this.

Utilises Autosub-1, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), to investigate the physical and biological environment of the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ), and to assess the potential of AUVs for improving acoustic estimates of the biomass of fisheries resources.

a research program organized by oceanographers and fisheries scientists to address the question of how global climate change may affect the abundance and production of animals in the sea.

The overall objective of VEINS was to measure and to model the variability of the fluxes between the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean with a view on implementing a longer term system of critical measurements needed to understand the high-latitude oceans steering role in decadal climate variability.

The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) is a component of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and is the most ambitious oceanographic experiment undertaken to-date.