music; ambience activity aboard research vessel
“Just got a core sample, some big cobble sized clasts in there and gravel”
Aboard the Celtic Voyager, a research vessel off the coast of Ireland, scientists from Ireland’s Marine Institute are mapping the ocean floor. Part of this survey involves analyzing sediment samples, which are used to identify underwater ecosystems. Welcome to Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. Cillian Reed is a hydrographic surveyor.
“And it’s done basically by lowering what you might describe as a large bucket with a trap on it, lowering it from the boat to the sea floor. And when it impacts the sea floor, the lid shuts on the bucket and you then haul the grab sampler back to the surface. And then take that sample, and it’s analyzed for biology and for grain size and all the different parameters that affect a sea bed habitat. We use instruments like the multibeam echo sounder and a pinger, and we take sediment samples from the bottom and with all these equipment we can basically get an understanding of the shape of the sea floor initially and then of the different type of sediments on the sea floor, whether there’s rock ridges or trenches or bodies of gravel or sand, and then we can deduce the type of ecosystem that’s down there, the biodiversity, which part of the bay would be suitable for oyster farming, for different types of fish farms or aquaculture and things like that. So it’s basically like an integrated survey that’s examining the sustainable development of Galway Bay.”
“Ok we’re off now to the next location, we’ve got 10 of these to do in total and then we’ll move off.”
Check out our latest project at kidsciencechallenge.com. Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.