NOC News Round Up - 3 March 2017

Dust traps carbon in the deep ocean A new study led by the NOC reveals that that dust generated by land erosion has large repercussions for oceanic processes and planetary climate. Wind-driven Saharan dust to the remote Atlantic Ocean not only provides phytoplankton with essential nutrients to promote their growth, but the dust particles themselves are ballasting these carbon-rich microscopic plants, making them heavier and, causing them to sink faster to the seafloor. Published in Nature Geoscience, the study highlights that the amount of carbon that sinks to depth in the dust-rich northern Atlantic is double that at the southern Atlantic, which receives ten-times less Saharan dust. RAPID underway Tuesday saw the start of the latest expedition to the RAPID observing system. Scientists and technicians from the NOC are spending six weeks at sea gathering data from the deep ocean that provide important information about our varying climate. This year they will for the first time be retrieving data on the transport of carbon dioxide by the ocean. The expedition, on RRS James Cook can be followed on the expedition blog.  You can read more about the work being undertaken on the expedition and about the cold deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean that help shape our climate on our website. Food shortages for deep-sea life The deep ocean and the creatures that live there are facing food shortages and changing temperatures, according to research that NOC scientists have contributed to, which explores the impact of climate change and human activity on the world's seas. NOC scientist and co-author, Dr Henry Ruhl said "The projections for change in some parts of the ocean are considerable, such as for the northeast Atlantic nearby UK. These model estimates will help inform changes to climate change policy, but also how we might look to document such changes over time."  A copy of the paper can be found on this link, or to read a Guardian article on this click here Marine robotics research featured at major workshops The NOC recently featured at two major events discussing current capabilities and future trends in marine robotic platforms and sensors. Prof Russell Wynn and David White were invited to represent NERC at a US workshop on marine autonomous platforms and sensors, held at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego. Russell provided a keynote lecture on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, and David provided a White Paper on the BRIDGES deep glider project. US colleagues were particularly interested in the NOC operational model, including linkages to our Marine Robotics Innovation Centre, PhD training programme (NEXUSS), dedicated data centre (British Oceanographic Data Centre), annual demonstrator missions (Marine Autonomous Systems in Support of Marine Observations - MASSMO) and micro-sensor development. Russell was also invited to present results of the MASSMO missions to a cross-section of defence experts at the Maritime Collaborative Enterprise (MarCE) Celebration Event hosted by BAE in Farnborough on 02 March 2017. MASSMO, which is sponsored by Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) was identified as one of the highlights of the MarCE programme, and has significantly advanced knowledge of the potential applications of robotic vehicles for Dstl and the Royal Navy. Building international collaborations On Wednesday the NOC hosted visitors from the Embassies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Thailand and the High Commission of Bangladesh. Their visit to our Southampton site enabled us to share highlights of our world-leading research and technology with a view to developing more international collaborative projects. Year of Autonomy This Tuesday saw the first Year of Autonomy event hosted by QinetiQ at Portsdown Technology Park. This first event was an interactive workshop on Collaborative Autonomy, focusing on issues like robot-to-robot, human-to-robot interaction and swarming.  Aidan Thorn gave a brief presentation highlighting what the NOC is doing towards collaborative autonomy as a developer, user and funder of autonomy projects. His presentation focused on the Exploring Ocean Fronts (MASSMO) missions, Adaptive Autonomous Ocean Sampling Networks (AAOSN) and our work on Innovate UK funded projects. There were also a number of presentations by NOC project partners from across industry and academia including ASV Global, Seebyte and the University of Exeter.  The vision of the Year of Autonomy is to bring together innovators and users of autonomous and robotic systems from across marine, land and air to address key challenges and share learning. The aim is to develop cross sector collaboration.  The South Coast Marine Cluster launched the Year of Autonomy at the NOC's Marine Autonomy and Technology Showcase 2016.   This email was sent using GovDelivery, on behalf of: National Oceanography Centre · Waterfront Campus · European Way · Southampton · SO14 3ZH · United Kingdom