Wherever you are in the world’s oceans, you can identify particular bodies of water (provided you have the right equipment) by how salty they are. You can get a feel for how productive that part of the ocean is by measuring a few chemical components in the water column. And, year on year, you will see a recurring pattern in how things like temperature, salinity and oxygen content vary with depth. ...[Read More]
Put it in a nutshell – or in this case a 21 ft container
In his final post from the Floating University, Jens Weiser shares what it’s like to be part of an oceanographic research cruise and sums up some of the best experiences he’s had on board… I started this series asking whether anyone of you had ever thought about joining a research cruise. Now that this cruise is coming to an end, I can only strongly advise everyone who might have responded t ...[Read More]
A dangerous fish in the lab and a Vibrocorer on the move – who said research was monotonous?
Earlier this month Jens Weiser set off aboard a research vessel fondly known as the Floating University to find out more about the oceans off southern Africa. After several weeks at sea, Weiser has some exciting findings to report back from FS Meteor as he and 14 other young scientists explore the region’s biology and geology… A certain routine has developed over the last week here on board. The t ...[Read More]
Seawater, fish larvae and sediments – a snapshot of an ecosystem off South Africa
Earlier this month Jens Weiser set out from southern Africa to find out more about the region’s biology and geology. Back aboard FS Meteor, he’s searching for layers of lagoonal muds to see what the climate was like here in the late Quaternary… After quite a lot of transit, we arrived at our first big station off Durban on Wednesday afternoon. On our way here we used the time to introduce ourselve ...[Read More]