Tag: NERC

Air pollution from ships is a serious problem that doesn't get enough attention. In this article, Kelvin Boot, science communicator, explains how environmental science can help ensure industry plays by the rules.

  Robotic underwater Seagliders used by the Oban-based Scottish Association for Marine Science have now gathered the equivalent of five years of oceanographic data, most of which was collected in the past 18 months. This milestone, which was reached today, highlights a major change in how marine scientists collect information such as sea temperature, salinity, pressure and oxygen, as the six-feet-long Seagliders can spend months at sea collecting data that contributes to our understanding of climate change. To date, the seven SAMS Seagliders have spent the equivalent of five years at sea, travelling more than 33,000 kilometres. One of the Seagliders, Ardbeg, has this week broken a SAMS distance record by completing a return trip of more than 3,400km along the Extended Ellett Line, a route from Scotland to Iceland that has been surveyed by scientists for 40 years. Dr Stefan Gary, a research associate in physical oceanography at SAMS, said: "Seagliders allow oceanographers to make cost-effective, long-term, and long-distance observations, often in hard-to-access regions that ships rarely frequent and other ocean robots rarely go. "Because of their durability we often deploy them in the winter, as they have been known to withstand extreme storm-force conditions. "Seagliders also allow for ...

  The volume of Arctic sea ice increased by a third after the summer of 2013 as the unusually cool air temperatures prevented the ice from melting, according to UCL and University of Leeds scientists. This suggests that the ice pack in the Northern hemisphere is more sensitive to changes in summer melting than it is to winter cooling, a finding which will help researchers to predict future changes in its volume. The study, published in Nature Geoscience and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), used 88 million measurements of sea ice thickness recorded by the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 mission between 2010 and 2014. It showed that there was a 14% reduction in the volume of summertime Arctic sea ice between 2010 and 2012, but the volume of ice jumped by 41% in 2013 (relative to the previous year), when the summer was 5% cooler than the previous year. Lead author and PhD student, Rachel Tilling from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), UCL Earth & Planetary Sciences, said: "The summer of 2013 was much cooler than recent years with temperatures typical of those seen in the late 1990s. This allowed thick sea ice to persist ...

  Marine litter can undermine the psychological benefits of coastal environments, a study has shown. The beneficial effects of the blue environment to human health and well-being are well documented, but there has been little research into how the growing global issue of marine litter might negate them. To measure this, Plymouth University in the UK secured funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to assess public reaction to the differing conditions of coastlines. Participants were shown images of clean beaches and some featuring seaweed (natural debris), but also ones with quantities of fishing debris, such as rope, nets and packaging, and public litter including drinks cans, plastic bottles, sweet and crisp wrappers. The results – published in the journal Environment and Behaviour – showed the clean condition was consistently rated most positively, whereas the two littered conditions were rated more negatively, with the public litter condition being rated the worst. The paper’s lead author Dr Kayleigh Wyles undertook the research as part of her PhD studies, and is now working as a Post-Doctorate Research Fellow at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML). She said: “When clean, the coast is associated with many ...

Research at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has discovered that a ‘slope’ on the ocean surface in the Strait of Gibraltar is lowering the sea level in Europe by 7cm. This research, published in Geophysical Research Letters by Prof Chris Hughes of the NOC and University of Liverpool, will help to more accurately predict future sea levels by providing a more complete understanding of the factors that control it. Prof Chris Hughes said “Much in the same way that stirring a cup of tea makes it swirl around a low point in the middle of the cup, the rotation of the Earth causes ocean currents in the northern hemisphere to slope as they flow, with a low in the sea level on their left hand side.” A current of water, with a volume approximately equivalent to four Amazonian rivers, is currently flowing into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, returning below the surface. This surface flow means that sea level must drop to the north, across the Strait of Gibraltar.  By studying ocean models Prof Chris Hughes and collaborators were able to discover a simple relationship between the drop in sea level and the strength of flow of the ocean current. ...

In April this year, NERC announced that it is to commission a new state-of-the-art polar research vessel to enable UK polar scientists to remain at the forefront of environmental research in both the Antarctic and the Arctic. The new vessel will be an ice-capable, multi-role polar research and logistics ship, designed to undertake leading edge multi-disciplinary science in both polar regions and to resupply the UK's Antarctic stations. The ship will be able to carry helicopters and will have a scientific moon pool, in addition to conventional over-side deployment capabilities. The ship will be ready for operation by 2019. The vessel will be operated for NERC by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and will enter service in autumn 2019. It will fulfil the roles of the current UK polar vessels, RRS James Clark Ross and RRSErnest Shackleton. To ensure that the vessel meets the current and future needs of the UK scientific user community, a consultation process is currently underway, running from October 2014 to January 2015. The process includes an online invitation to the UK and international marine and polar science user community to submit comments on the vessel's design. A town meeting will be held on Thursday 15 January ...