SWIRE NOCS Ocean Monitoring System

SNOMS was an innovative programme designed to quantify key ocean processes. It was initially a partnership between Swire and the NOC Southampton – hence the Swire NOMonitoring System acronym.

Between 2006 and 2012 the Swire Group Charitable Trust generously provided funding to put a system on the MV Pacific Celebes of the China Navigation Company (CNCo) to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) in the ocean. Swire and the CNCo again offered funding, and a vessel the MV Shengking in 2016, to continue the measurements across the Pacific from Canada to Australia. The project directly linked the National Oceanography Centre, UK, the University of Xiamen, China, the Institute of Ocean Sciences, Canada and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. 

In 2018 we added an Atlantic route working in partnership with Maersk Tankers (and then the James Fisher group). The SNOMS equipment was installed on the MV Maersk Raleigh (now MV Raleigh Fisher) that ran from the UK to the South Atlantic. 

By utilising such ocean-monitoring equipment, we could make major progress in understanding both the impact of the ocean on atmospheric CO2 and the impact that CO2 has on different areas of the ocean.  The research from this partnership has wide implications for helping us to understand the factors that are contributing to global climate change and ocean acidification.

We extend our appreciation to Swire and CNCo for their generous support. We also thank the Maersk and James Fisher group for their assistance in installing equipment on their vessels.

 

PI: Susan Hartman

Email: s.hartman at noc.ac.uk

Project Dates: 
December 2006 to December 2018
Funding: 

 Swire Group Charitable Trust

Project

Funders and Partners

The Swire Trust
Maersk
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