ocean sciences

Marie Tharp: an inspiration for the past, present and future!

Hazel Gibson July 30, 2020

Image created from a photograph provided by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp and using the World Ocean Floor Panorama, Bruce C. Heezen and Marie Tharp, 1977. Copyright by Marie Tharp 1977/2003. Reproduced by permission of Marie Tharp Maps LLC and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Today marks the centennial of the birth of Marie Tharp, the person responsible for creating the first map of our planet’s ocean floors. Though her work was underappreciated at the time of its publication – mainly because she faced many significant barriers due to her gender – her maps ended up being instrumental evidence in support of the theory of plate tectonics. Marie herself ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Monday: Sunset in the Arabian basin

Margot Courtillat July 27, 2020

Sunset in the Arabian Basin. Credit: Dirk Dienhart (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

We know the topography of the moon better than the Earth’s seafloor, so we need to keep studying the ocean, and, for me, going to sea is the best way. Only twenty percent of the seafloor is already mapped (see the Seabed 2030 Project), leaving eighty percent of our ocean unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. This is why ocean going research is fundamental, not only for seabed mapping, ...[Read More]

All at sea: UK women’s experiences of female leadership roles on ocean-going research vessels

Margot Courtillat May 7, 2020

Women scientists from the IODP Exp 379. (Credit: Tim Fulton, IODP JRSO)

As I read the abstract of ‘Women in UK Ocean Science: Experiences of female leadership roles at sea’ by Katharine Hendry et al., it reminds me my own experience at sea! Indeed, more than one year ago, I had the chance to join the IODP Exp 379 in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) which was co-led by a woman, Julia Wellner from the University of Houston. It was her first IODP (International ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Monitoring Antarctica’s ocean current

Olivia Trani August 5, 2019

The sound of Silence. Credit: Ben Moat (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This week’s featured image depicts a quiet and still oceanic landscape in Antarctica, but polar scientists are studying how energetic and variable the ocean currents in this part of the world can be. In this picture, the marine research vessel RRS James Clark Ross is making its way through the Lemaire Channel, a small passage off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, south of the southernmost tip ...[Read More]