I study MSc. Biological Oceanography approaching my 3rd semester and I‘m very happy to take part in this year’s OCEAN-NETs mesocosm-experiment on the island of Gran Canaria. Since Covid-19 made a cut to most encounters with physically present scientists, I am only now reflecting upon the impressions I get from working together with real flesh-and-blood-researchers […]
Mesocosms need upkeep as much as any other equipment. Today, a handful of divers and volunteers made their way down to the pier in the sweltering heat to scrub the walls of the mesocosms clean from the inside and out. For all mesocosms to receive the same amount of light, they need to be freed […]
As the ocean is one of our biggest allies in the battle against climate change, we didn’t miss the chance to contribute to the Global Day of Climate Action. The fight against climate change is probably one of the biggest challenges of our generation. If we want to sustain a habitable planet we need to […]
Today (Sept. 22nd), it was time for our second Science Meeting. To get a first insight on how the experiment is going, we came together to discuss the first preliminary data. It was very interesting for everyone to get an overview over the current developments of all the different parameters. Important information for everybody was […]
For over a year now, I have been managing the public relations of the three ocean research projects CUSCO, EVAR and REEBUS. A lot has happened since then – Corona, lockdown, (temporary) home office. But now something new has happened that I didn’t expect.I am alone. Alone in the office, alone in the hallway, alone […]
Seit über einem Jahr betreue ich die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit der drei Projekte der Ozeanforschung CUSCO, EVAR und REEBUS. Seitdem ist viel passiert – Corona, Lockdown, (vorübergehende) Homeoffice-Pflicht. Doch nun ist etwas Neues geschehen, mit dem ich nicht gerechnet habe.Ich bin allein. Allein im Büro, allein im Flur, allein in der Abteilung. Hintergrund ist, dass meine Kolleg*innen […]
Our supervisors call us the fluorescent guys because we are measuring chlorophyll-a fluorescence. And what is that? Chlorophyll-a is a crucial pigment present in photosynthetic organisms. Photosynthesis is the mechanism by which plants and algae use light to obtain energy to make food. During the photosynthesis, CO2 is sequestered from the atmosphere and converted into […]
It’s sampling day, eight o’clock in the morning. Busy people are running through the PLOCAN floors to get all equipment into the van before bringing it down to the pier where our mesocosms are moored. Finally, all sampling boxes and the three large tubes to take the samples from the mesocosms are loaded and everyone […]
Hello, my name is Chris Galley, and I’m a geophysics PhD student from Canada assisting with the collection and processing of the ship’s acoustic-based imaging data, and mapping. These acoustic methods all measure some feature of the water column, seafloor, or sub-seafloor by releasing pressure waves (sound pings) and then studying the waves upon their […]
Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing climate change, global warming, and ocean acidification. Microscopic plants called phytoplankton, living in the surface oceans, sequester 50% of global CO2 and supply >50% of new nitrogen used for primary production. Other than light and major nutrients, phytoplankton growth is strongly influenced by availability […]