NOC News Round Up - 17 March 2017

Boaty Re-surfaces! NOC's "chubby little sub" hit the news this week with a report by the BBC on Monday morning about the latest Autosub Long Range mission, a project called DynOPO led by the University of Southampton and British Antarctic Survey. The expedition will study some of the deepest and coldest abyssal ocean waters on earth, known as Antarctic Bottom Water (ABW), and how they affect climate change. You can read more about the project in the university's website, and see the BBC report here. Following the BBC report, worldwide interest in the project was received, with media in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Germany all requesting images and video of 'Boaty' for bulletins. #BoatyMcBoatface was trending on Twitter for the whole on Monday morning, with lots of "good luck Boaty" messages and plenty of appreciation of the science being undertaken.   The DynOPO project starts today and we're hoping to get lots of images back from the RRS James Clark Ross, so that we can update you on Boaty's adventure via our webpage. Sonardyne becomes a Partner in Innovation Centre A year after becoming an Associate Member of the NOC Marine Robotics Innovation Centre, global provider of underwater positioning, communications and custom engineering solutions, Sonardyne International Ltd. has upgraded its membership to become a full Partner.  Sonardyne's relationship with the NOC extends back over nearly two decades when it began supplying the NOC's research ships with Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) acoustic tracking technology. More recently, the NOC and Sonardyne have worked together on the Energy Technology Institute's (ETI) Carbon Capture and Storage Measurement, Monitoring and Verification technology demonstrator project, as well as the Autonomous Surface Sub-Surface Survey System (ASSSS) funded by Innovate UK. Read mo RAPID research is underway in the Atlantic Here the final checks are being made to an instrument before it is sent into the Atlantic to improve understanding about one of the World's largest system of ocean currents. Read the Expedition blog here or blog posts by the on-board journalist, Laura, by clicking here. NOC workshop success in Bangladesh NOC's Dr Lucy Bricheno and Professor Kevin Horsburgh were in Dhaka this week developing relationships with academics and policymakers in Bangladesh. This visit builds on the relationships already established through the ESPA Deltas project as part of which Dr Judith Wolf leads the biophysical modelling work package, leading to several papers and the preparation of a policy advice book. The visit was an opportunity to widen the NOC's stakeholder group and identify new areas of collaboration where the NOC can work towards the Official Development Assistance (ODA) agenda. It is hoped that successful academic and scientific collaborations with Bangladesh could lead to a technology transfer project, direct policy advice, or working with non-governmental organisations. The visit aimed to identify local groups who would be interested in our work, and to find areas of common interest. The local host, Professor Munsur Rahman organised a 1-day workshop on the 14th, held at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), where the focus was on areas where the NOC has had direct experience working in Bangladesh: including sea level rise, coastal risk, river salinity, sediment flux in the delta, and river basin management. The team also met with academic colleagues at the Bangladesh Centre for Advance Studies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Talking sensors in Mauritius Using NERC International Development Innovation and Impact award funds the NOC visited Mauritius this week to explore the potential to collaborate in areas of ocean science. With the assistance of the Mauritius Ministry of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping and the British High Commission the NOC hosted a one day workshop to disseminate NOC expertise and hear local organisations share their experiences in developing Mauritius' Ocean Economy. NOC staff, Alan Evans, Alex Poulton, Socratis Loucaides and Katleen Robert also visited a number of organisations and institutions, including the Board of Investment, Albion Fisheries Research Centre, Mauritius Oceanography Institute, Mauritius Ports Authority, Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Faculty of Ocean Studies and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius and the Mauritius Research Council. Several areas of collaboration have already been identified, ranging from habitat and resource mapping to provision and training in the use of novel technologies to monitor the marine environment. Requests by  the Faculty of Ocean Studies have been sought where NOC experts could provide bespoke short courses or jointly supervise students to develop the capacity that Mauritius require to deliver their Ocean Economy.   This email was sent using GovDelivery, on behalf of: National Oceanography Centre · Waterfront Campus · European Way · Southampton · SO14 3ZH · United Kingdom