Southampton

Deep sea hydrothermal vents: a journey to the Southern Ocean – part II, 19.30pm at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton –

by Leigh Marsh and Laura Hepburn –

On the 6 June 2011, the UK research vessel the RRS Discovery left Liverpool docks to embark on the first research cruise in a large UK programme studying the impacts of ocean acidification.

On the cruise, researchers are investigating the impacts of changing seawater chemistry on:

On 9 May 2011, the RRS James Cook set sail from Govan, Glasgow, on a 34-day expedition to study seabed habitats and sedimentary processes in the North-East Atlantic Ocean.

The team, which combines scientists, technicians and crew from five different institutes, aim to:

Phytoplankton and the global ocean – 2 June, 19.30pm at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton –

by Thomas Ryan-Keogh –

In June 2011, the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is to take part in an ambitious project to ‘spread the word’ about marine research and the importance and vulnerability of the world’s oceans, with particular focus on the Mediterranean and Ligurian/northern Tyrrhenian Seas.

Writing in the scientific journal Nature, scientists have called for increased discussion of independent monitoring of deep-sea hydrocarbon industry activity with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of its ecological impact.

On 9 May, RRS James Cook set sail from Glasgow in the direction of Rockall Trough, Rockall Bank and Hatton Basin, to find out what happens to the seabed fauna in a deep-water trawling area if you leave it undisturbed several years.

Professor Gwyn Griffiths has been announced as the National Oceanography Centre’s inaugural Chief Technologist. The announcement was made by Director of Science and Technology, Professor Andrew Willmott, at the Directorate’s symposium held in the Midlands in March.

Stephanie Henson of the Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems group, National Oceanography Centre, was announced as the winner of the Early Career Research Award at the Science and Technology Symposium earlier this month.

Clara Bolton, a recent PhD student at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, has been selected by The Micropalaeontological Society to receive the Charles Downie Award for 2011.