Oceans 2025 Theme 10
Theme 10: Integration of sustained observations
The sustained collection, collation and stewardship of marine measurements are essential components in the portfolio of any major marine science laboratory. Such data suites are often initiated and nurtured by visionary individuals until the time that they become an accepted basis for determining long term change and natural variability of the marine environment. Although we live in an era when man's collected activities cast dark shadows on future climates, environments and ecosystems, we know very little about the time scales and magnitudes of the changes that we are unthinkingly creating.
Much of our understanding of the marine environment comes from monitoring activities, and at SAMS we place a high priority on sustained observations. These include:
- maintaining and enhancing the Extended Ellett line (an oceanic section from Iceland to Scotland conducted in collaboration with NOC)
- monitoring the condition of the Scottish Coastal current, and separately the cold water transport across the Wyville Thomson Ridge, with current meters and moored instrument arrays
- maintaining a mooring at the only UK monitoring site in the Arctic, at Svalbard
Further information about these projects can be found below:
- The Extended Ellett Line (and Wyville Thomson Ridge mooring): SO4
- The Tiree passage mooring: SO12
- Arctic Shelf time series: SO13
