Tag: NOC

  An international project aims to enable the next great scientific advances in global marine research by making marine data sets more easily accessible to researchers worldwide. Currently different data formats between research centres pose a challenge to oceanographic researchers, who need unified data sets to get the most complete picture possible of the ocean. This project, called ODIP II, aims to solve this problem using NERC’s world-class vocabulary server to ‘translate’ between these different data semantics.  The vocabulary server, which is effectively now an international standard for a service of this kind, was developed by the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC); a national facility operated as part of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). The Head of BODC Dr Graham Allen, which is leading the vocabularies aspect of ODIP II, said “This project will open up the possibilities of global marine research. For example, if scientists could access all the data on ocean temperature from, say, the North Sea, they would get a much more comprehensive insight into changes in ocean circulation there. Data management innovations like this enable the next big global scientific advances to happen.” ODIP II is a collaboration between the USA, Australia and the EU, which ...

Research led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), in collaboration with the University of Bangor, have identified how warm Atlantic water that is flowing deep into the Arctic Ocean is mixing with colder waters above to contribute to sea-ice loss in the Arctic. The results, published today in the Journal Nature Geoscience, show that tidal flows in the Arctic are causing deep, warm water (originating from the Gulf Stream) to mix with cold, fresh water lying above, in turn contributing to melting the floating sea-ice. Past research on how warm layers of ocean water mix with cold layers lying above has focused on turbulence driven by winds and waves, rather than on tidal mixing, since tidal flows around the Arctic Ocean are generally weak. However, direct measurements of turbulence from across the seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean show that tidal motions interacting with steep sea bed slopes are in fact a major cause of vertical mixing. Lead author, Tom Rippeth from Bangor University, explains “Our oceans are not made up of one body of water, but contain waters of different temperatures and salinity, lying in different ‘layers’, so the Arctic Ocean is a bit like a jam sandwich, where the “bread” ...

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. ...

A team of scientists and engineers from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is heading to the USA to take part in a high-profile international competition to develop pH sensors to measure changes in the acidity of the ocean. NOC is one of only two organisations representing the UK in the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE, which is offering a total prize fund of (US)$2million for the development of accurate and affordable ocean pH sensors to improve our understanding of ocean acidification. The four-phase competition has attracted major players from the scientific community around the world and there are twenty-three organisations taking part. The NOC team has successfully passed Phase 1 and are travelling to California this month for Phase 2, which involves testing the sensor in a lab.  NOC is well-renowned for developing world-leading oceanographic sensors and the pH sensor it has entered into the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE competition is unique. Very small in size, it is based on a microfluidic design, which requires very small volumes of seawater to generate a reading. It is also being designed as an autonomous system able to operate on a number of oceanographic platforms and down to depths of several thousand ...

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is to play a leading role in the largest marine science project that the European Commission has ever funded. The €20 million AtlantOS project, due to start in January 2015, will bring together a wide spectrum of scientific disciplines from over 60 research organisations across the world in order to enhance the efficiency of ocean observation procedures. By fundamentally restructuring and integrating the existing, loosely-coordinated Atlantic ocean monitoring activities, as well as filling in the gaps, the multi-disciplinary AtlantOS project will result in more efficient, more complete and lower cost information delivery. The result is expected to have benefits ranging from improved safety planning for coastal communities in the event of oil spills, to better implementation of marine policies and more accurate weather forecasting for offshore energy. Dr Doug Connelly from NOC, who played a key role in securing funding for AtlantOS, said: “What is really exciting about this project is that it brings together so many different scientific disciplines in a single project in a way that has never been done before.  With contributions from biogeochemistry, physics, biology, technology, ocean observation and modelling, this will be a truly multi-disciplinary project.” AtlantOS will improve the ...

Thousands of sea water samples are being collected by research vessels around the British Isles as part of an 18 month study of how much carbon dioxide is taken up (and released) in UK waters. Coordinated by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), the University of Liverpool and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the shelf-wide sampling project is part of the larger Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry programme, jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The sampling covers an area from Rockall to beyond the Scilly Isles and most of the North Sea and is unique in its scale and seasonal coverage. This project involves ships from four organisations: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) Marine Scotland, the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) and the Marine Institute in Ireland.  Since April, staff onboard the vessels have been collecting samples of the seawater at noon every day in special glass tubes, then syringe filtering and freezing them. Additional data are also being collected by Ferryboxes – specialist equipment that analyses water samples – on ferries from Germany, Spain and Norway into UK waters. Over the past few months, crates of frozen samples ...

Some 340 European scientists, policy-makers and other experts, including representatives from the National Oceanography Centre, have agreed a common vision of priorities for marine research and action until 2020. They published the Rome Declaration at the EurOCEAN 2014 conference in Italy – an important document which presents a shared goal of how marine scientists can work together to address the important challenges facing society. The head of the National Oceanography Centre Professor Ed Hill played a key role in the process, chairing the Declaration drafting group and presenting the draft for agreement at the EurOCEAN 2014 conference. Representatives from 143 organisations from 31 countries attended the event, which focused on connecting science, policy and people, the sustainable management of the ocean and identifying future research priorities in support of blue growth in Europe. Prof Ed Hill addresses the conference As Europe emerges from the worst financial crisis in recent history, the importance of the ocean to the economy cannot be underestimated. Continued investment is also critical. Figures provided within the Rome Declaration show that the European maritime economy is currently valued at 500 billion euros per year and provides more than five million jobs. It also shows that the combined EU ...

340 European scientists have agreed a common vision of priorities for marine research and action until 2020

A paper published in Environmental Research Letters by NOC scientist Dr Svetlana Jevrejeva provides valuable new information about the probability of a sea-level rise reaching of 180cm by 2100. In this study Dr Jevrejeva and colleagues explore the range of possible sea level rise by 2100 and add vital new data to the estimates currently available. Previously an upper limit, or ‘worst case scenario’, has not been possible to calculate, but this new study now looks beyond the previous data available to provide a more complete picture. The estimate of 180cm as the upper limit is thought to be a low probability, only a 5% chance, but this worst case scenario sea level rise projection cannot be ruled out, given past climate proxy observations and current model limitations. With sea levels continuing to rise in the 21st century, the impact assessment, risk management, adaptation strategy and long-term decision making in coastal areas depend on up to date future projections of sea levels. This work is important step forward, with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report indicating sea level projections spanning a likely range (66% increase) only, which means a 1/3 of future sea level rise may ...

1.5 million was made available to UK businesses to develop novel adaptive autonomous ocean sampling network (AOSN) management systems