Southampton

The first Marine Life talk of 2011 held at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton was dedicated to the achievement of Dr Ken Collins and Jenny Mallinson, who had the inspiration to start the programme of talks back in 2000 and the tenacity to keep it going for ten years.

Mud sampling: 28 January 2011

Pinpointing the Vents: 25 January 2011

By Wednesday we have criss-crossed the seafloor with our towed video sled and have mapped out the animal and substrate distribution on the seafloor. The shimmering water, chimneys and areas of hydrothermal mineralization are all clustered near the top of Hook Ridge.

Coring the seafloor: 23 January 2011

Sunday starts with a steam to a new position nearer to the Antarctic Peninsula where we have chosen a site to core the seafloor. Overnight we homed in on the chemical anomalies in the water column that tell us where the vent and seep sites are on the seafloor.

Statement by the National Oceanography Centre
The National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, can confirm that there has been an incident involving the RRS James Cook in which the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Isis came into contact with the ship’s port propeller.

Day 3 – Monday 17 January 2011 – Crossing Drake Passage

Monday and we are out in the Drake Passage: a strong head wind slowing us slightly. Drake Passage, between Cape Horn at the tip of Chile and the Antarctica Peninsular, is a choke point for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that travels around the continent of Antarctica.

Professor Sir David King will chair the National Oceanography Centre’s newly formed Advisory Council. The inaugural meeting took place on Monday 12 January at the Institute of Physics in London, where Terms of Reference were agreed.

Day 1 – Saturday 15 January 2011 – Crossing Drake Passage

We wake on Saturday morning having navigated the Magellan Straits and now we start to cross the Drake Passage to Antarctica. Paul Tyler is in charge of this expedition and we have a busy schedule ahead of us.

We are here to carry out a 41 day expedition in the Southern Ocean to explore the newly discovered hydrothermal vents in this remote region. Our principal scientist or expedition leader is Paul Tyler from the University of Southampton who has vast amounts of experience of working in this hostile environment.

Lionfish research in Bonaire –  19.30pm at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton –

by Fadilah Ali –