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Introduction

Introduction

The harshness of the marine environment and the difficulty of accessing our seas and oceans remains a major constraint on our ability to gain knowledge of marine systems. But modern technology increasingly allows us to make in situ observations in even the most challenging environments - often from afar.

We have a number of smart observation platforms, and a highly skilled and experienced workforce that develops new solutions and adapts existing technologies that drive the science of our oceans forward.

SAMS Arctic probe
 

Contact information

For technical discussions please contact the lead person identified for each technique. If you would like a commercial quote for hiring equipment or for other contract discussion, please contact SRSL.

 

Drifters

Drifters

The Scottish Marine Institue has a long history of producing drifting platforms for a variety of purposes and has been active in developing many of the techniques used in drifter development such as satellite communications and advanced GPS techniques. We have significant experience not only with various types of telemetery needed for drifter technology but also a pool of expertise in the areas of automated collection, processing and real-time presentation of incoming data.

Coastal drifter deploymentCoastal drifters

Present drifter work includes development of a fleet of low-cost semi-expendable tracking buoys to monitor coastal currents. These use mobile phone technology as it is extremely cost effective in terms of hardware and data transfer.

Such drifters have been successfully deployed in the 'Great Race, a turbulent area of sea near Oban which warrants investigation of the substantial system of tidal currents it contains.

 

SAMS Drifting Ears (by Dr Ben Wilson)Drifting Ears

Our Drifting Ears are boat-free, mobile recording systems that include a sound recorder, GPS and power supply packed into a small floating case attached to an underwater microphone.

They are used to collect and measure underwater sound in different environments particularly one experiencing rapid tidal flows - for example at candidate sites for deployment of renewable marine energy devices.

 

FIMB (floating ice-mass balance buoy) sensor platform that withstands deployment in sea ice Polar drifters

Another current area of work is to produce free drifting buoys which can tolerate the freezing conditions of polar oceans and withstand the forces encountered when sea ice is forming or breaking up.

Such buoys can monitor both the formation and decay of sea ice. Initial trials look encouraging and further work is underway to produce improved designs.

 

In the pipeline

Future work is envisaged in the area of ocean drifters for high resolution measurement of sea-surface temperatures using the novel thermometer chains developed at the Scottish Marine Institute for monitoring sea ice.

 

Contact information

Polar technology

Polar technologies

The Scottish Marine Institute has a long record of producing novel sensors and platforms for polar deployment, particularly for the difficult environment of sea ice. Previous work has included simple tracking buoys for monitoring ice movement and tilt buoys to detect wave motion amplitude and wavelengths in the ice (proxys for average ice thickness).

 

Ice Mass Balance buoys and other current developments

More recent work has been the development of Ice Mass Balance buoys which monitor ice thickness using a novel and low-cost thermometer chain developed by us (images below).

Deployment of SAMS Ice Mass Balance buoy  Temperature profile from air, through sea-ice and into sea measured by a SAMS IMB 

Also, efforts to produce an under-ice profiler capable of measuring the micro-structure of the ocean below sea ice continue.

Current work includes mechanical design of platforms capable of surviving complete cycles of freezing into sea ice and melting out to become free drifting. Such platforms would allow monitoring of the stages of ice formation and melting.

The challenges of powering remote equipment on sea ice is a continual challenge to us and we are producing novel techniques to overcome the problems. The concept of using thermal gradients between winter air temperatures and the relatively warm sea below the ice is being tested as a possible source of power for winter periods and uses thermoelectric components to achieve energy conversion. Also, novel mechanical designs are being developed where batteries are suspended in the sea below the ice rather than in the colder atmosphere where their performance would be compromised.

 

Using dog sleds for data collection

Dog sleds collecting sea-ice dataA team of our researchers developed a new way of measuring Arctic sea-ice thickness: Their scientific equipment was adapted for use by Inuit on their regular hunting journeys.  The system was mounted on the Inuit dog-sleds meaning every time a sled was used important scientific information was transmitted, via satellite, back to the Scottish Marine Institute.  A two-day trial of the equipment on the sea ice around Qaanaaq (NW Greenland) yielded the equivalent of 20,000 independent ice-thickness measurements. The development means data can be collected throughout the sea-ice growth and melt seasons, rather than just over the few weeks of a field campaign. Sea-ice changes are directly affecting the economy and well-being of many northern indigenous communities. These communities can now help to provide data that scientists and policy-makers urgently need.

Click here to read an article on how we collect data using Inuit dog sleds in NERC's Planet Earth publication (spring 2011). This work is led by Dr Jeremy Wilkinson.

 

Other expertise and facilities

In addition to the development of polar instruments we have considerable expertise in deployment of instruments and the associated logistics in getting people and equipment to very remote polar sites. For testing our polar installations at the institute we have developed a -30oC cold room.

 

Contact details (technical and scientific questions only)

Gliders

North Atlantic Glider Base

Since 2009 SAMS uses Gliders and AUVs to support research projects investigating the oceanography of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. 

 

About underwater gliders

glider-style.jpgGliders are buoyancy driven and energy-efficient autonomous vehicles that can undertake independent journeys for up to five months at depths between the surface and 1000m making continuous measurements of a range of seawater properties. They relay the collected data in real-time to the Institute and communicate with a pilot back at base using an Iridium satellite link.   The glider pilot receives position, scientific and technical data and based on this can instruct the glider on waypoints to aim for during its mission. 

Although limits in depth range, sensor availability and power supply mean that gliders will supplement rather than fully replace ship borne observations, the novel use of gliders to monitor the state of the global ocean opens up huge opportunities not only for understanding the state of the ocean, but also for undertaking new research that will build on our ability to predict future climate states.

SAMS currently operates two Seagliders


About the NAGB

The North Atlantic Glider Base welcomes scientists from all over the world to bring Gliders to SAMS for deep water testing, launch and recovery for North Atlantic missions, and for advice on operations and on real-time data delivery. We also provide access to our gliders and AUV for development and trial of new sensors.

The NAGB offers 

  • Access to laboratory space for pre-mission Glider preparation including ballasting
  • Access to coastal research vessels for sheltered deep water testing (to 200 m)
  • Access to fast vessels for deployment and recovery for North Atlantic missions
  • Advice on scientific and operational aspects of Glider missions
  • Advice on software for real-time Glider data delivery to GTS or to data centres

The North Atlantic Glider Base is a delivery partner of the Marine Autonomous Robotic Systems at the National Oceanography Centre and is supported by NERC National Capability funding. As part of our National Capability we offer the above on a free-at-the-point-of-use basis to NERC applicants proposing to use the National MARS facility housed at NOCS. To non-NERC users we offer the above on an appropriately costed basis (contact Keri Page for quotes).

 

SAMS science projects involving gliders

 

Contact information

 

 Relevant links

Landers

UK Lander Centre at the Scottish Marine Institute
Mariana Trench landerIntroduction

Benthic landers are self-contained platforms designed to work remotely on the seabed, often thousands of metres below the surface. By making measurements in situ at the seafloor instead of bringing samples up to the surface artefacts associated with large pressure and temperature changes can be avoided.

The landers can carry various types of instrument to investigate the seafloor. Each is controlled by an onboard computer, which also stores the data recorded by the instruments in situ. Iron ballast makes the otherwise positively buoyant lander sink down to the seabed. On completion of its mission, an acoustic command is sent from the surface to release the ballast and allow the lander to float back up to the surface.

SAMS is one of the leading institutes on benthic lander technology in the world and hosts several different types of landers for biogeochemical seafloor investigations, including Chamber-, Profiling- and Eddy landers.

 

Lander image for front newsDevelopment and innovation

Benthic landers are a relatively new and extremely versatile technology. Our engineers are building landers and developing in situ instruments for a diverse range of scientific applications. Areas of particular interest are:

  • provision of two-way acoustic telemetry data link
  • active control of in situ experiments in near real time
  • high compression slow scan video imagery
  • ultra-clean platforms for trace metal studies
  • environmentally controlled benthic chambers
  • novel sensors for the detection and quantification of specific molecules

 

Lander validation by divingResearch using lander technology

Our landers are involved in a number of research projects around the world spanning from the high Arctic down to the equatorial Atlantic, and from shallow coastal and estuarine environments down to the deep abyssal plains and ocean trenches.

The landers currently support research on

 

  • anthropogenic perturbations within the marine environment
  • reduction-oxidation chemistry
  • carbon cycling
  • bioturbation
  • benthic community structure and response
  • tracer studies on biomechanical mixing
  • environmental dynamics of cold-water coral reefs

Our latest major project was deploying the first geochemistry lander into the Mariana Trench in 2010 for carbon cycling investigations. More...

 

Facilities and equipment

A dedicated lander building houses our landers and associated equipment. A laboratory, workshop and storage space with lifting and handling capabilities form the core of this facility. The surrounding waters in our local sea lochs make ideal test sites for landers and other marine technology as they are both sheltered and deep.

Lander hall   Lander entrance   Lander mezzanine

 

Contact information

 

Funder acknowledgement

The Autonomous Marine Environment Research Stations (AutoMERS) programme was a multi-million pound mult-partner project to develop and test landers and their associated instruments and sensors. Our partners were the Universities of Aberdeen, St Andrews and Bristol.

Moorings

Moorings and ocean observatories

Moorings are collections of instruments that are connected - at various depths - to a wire that is often anchored on the sea floor. Our moorings are long-term moorings deployed for years. The data collected by the different instruments is either collected regularly or sent by satellite to the lab.

We currently have moorings in four different locations:

 

Contact information

AUV

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)

UUV Dalriada Scottish Marine InstituteAUVs travel independently through sea water along pre-programmed pathways while measuring horizontal variations in water properties. In 2009 we purchased our first REMUS AUV.

Rebus is a positively buoyant, 2m long, propeller-driven vehicle used for short-duration (max 10 hours), intensive surveys of the ocean down to 600m over distances of around 70km. The REMUS AUV is designed to measure the amount of small-scale turbulent mixing in the ocean as well as temperature, salinity, water velocity and chlorophyll fluorescence.

Rebus has been on missions around Scotland and the Arctic.

 

Contact information

 

Mapping

Seabed mapping technologies

The combination of side-scan sonar and multibeam bathymetry provides a powerful seabed mapping tool, not presently available elsewhere within the NERC pool, for identifying the processes that determine the spatial mosaic of bioresources. Used in tandem, this vital survey equipment will digitally acquire seabed morphology and surface sediment, bedform and textural information which can inform interpretations of both habitat and physical environmental conditions on the seafloor.

Multibeam 3D image off NE LismoreThe Scottish Marine Institute uses a Klein 3000 dual frequency side-scan sonar with Triton workstation and software for both acquisition and processing. The digital side scan will generate acoustic images of the seafloor and its reflectivity, revealing such features as areas of coarse or fine-grained sediments, seabed obstacles, bedforms, therefore enabling sediment transport pathways and anthropogenic impacts to be evaluated.

The multibeam bathymetry provides a highly accurate (<5m resolution) map of seabed morphology. Its use on the UK shelf is currently being realised through extensive mapping for benthic habitats, offshore civil engineering and defence projects and can also be used in the interpretation of the extent and impact of past climatic change (e.g. glaciation by mapping moraine and hence palaeo-ice limits) on the seafloor.  This system is ideal for use from the SAMS research vessel Calanus.


Contact information
 
science contact

Dr Finlo Cottier

Dr Finlo Cottier

E: finlo.cottier@sams.ac.uk

T: +44 (0)1631 559 323

F: +44 (0)1631 559 001

Scottish Marine Institute

Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK