Every second morning a bunch of brave explorers set out with their tiny little boats to an obscure direction for an unknown period of time. They become smaller and smaller and then finally disappear behind rocky islands with wild vegetation. After a few hours they come back and have been desperately awaited by the people […]
In other posts on the blog it was written about research work at the project in Bergen, therefore I will rather tell more about the everyday life at marine biology station. One major aspect that has to be taken into account in such projects is eating and its organization. Does everyone cook for themselves (which […]
“Back in the Fjord”: We discussed the title of our press release at length. Admittedly, we had come up with more appealing titles for previous experiments. But it fits. Oh, yes, it fits! The KOSMOS gang is back at the fjord, this time accompanied by a group of highly motivated students. And how happy everyone […]
To get a better impression how fishes will do under future conditions we decided to introduce fish larvae to the mesocosms. With that we will be able not only to record the interaction of several trophic stages under high CO2 conditions but also record the development of critical life stages such as the vulnerable larval […]
Microbes reproduce fast. Like, really fast, so that over the course of the mesocosm experiment, some species will go through about 50 generations. And in that time, evolution can happen. Team Evolution (Lisa and Sinead) are measuring how much some of the picoplankton in the mesocosms evolve. To do this, we need to measure the […]
Last wednesday after weeks of statistics and modelling, we (that is 7 students from GEOMAR) were kind of fed up with dry theory. So we got ourselves a bus + driver and headed north to experience science in action. After a one day trip we arrived at the marine station and found the whole KOSMOS […]
In my opinion, our mesocosm only look complete with their hoody! Fortunately for me, a roof does not only serve an estathic purpose and we have to take the effort to install them before closing the mesocosm bags. It rains a lot in Bergen. You might have heard about Bergen being Europe’s rainiest city? I […]
With nearly 20 tonnes of mesocosm equipment and our boat Wassermann on board, the research vessel Alkor has arrived safely in Bergen on Sunday morning. An additional 14 tonnes of lab equipment and anchor weights for the mesocosm moorings were transported to Bergen by truck. After unloading Wassermann and taking on board the anchor […]
Those of you who visit us at Oceanblogs regularly have heard about ocean acidification already – the change in ocean chemistry due to the uptake of carbon dioxide: Since the start of the industrial revolution, the ocean has absorbed approximately 30 per cent of all carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by humans, for examply by […]
The KOSMOS 2015 team is almost ready to go! The mesocoms and the working boat WASSERMANN were loaded on the research vessel ALKOR today. An extra truck will take dozens of boxes with lab equipment, measurement instruments, anchors, buoys and sampling material to Bergen. Weather forecasters told us that ALKOR might have a rough time […]