Exploring our Oceans

Blue Planet 2 | Episode 2 | The Deep

It amazes me that a programme that has immortalised lecture content from my degree has become the most-watched British television programme of the year. Two years after being totally captivated by Dr Jon Copley’s lecture about the ecology of deep sea hydrothermal vents, whale falls and trenches, he was directly involved in helping the BBC bring these same environments to the public’s attention. Continue reading →

Blue Planet 2 | Episode 1 | The Start of a Beautiful Story

I’m Kieran and I am studying a four year MSci degree in Biology and Marine Biology at the University of Southampton. I am watching the fascinating new series Blue Planet 2 and I will be sharing my insights into the programme here with you here every week. After 16 years, the new episode of Blue Planet has aired. I attended a live screening which the …

Mesocosms; environmental laboratories

Studying the biology of the marine environment can prove tricky, there are many factors you must consider when looking at it. The influence of water chemistry, physics, weather can all impact the biology. We can work in the laboratory, and control a number of these. We can determine how much light or nutrients organisms get, which allows us to test specific variables. But there is an “in between” of the lab and the environment, and this is what is known as a mesocosm. Continue reading →

The ‘Missing’ Carbon Conundrum… Part 2

If you watched the Blue Planet II last night I hope you’ll agree that, if all the world’s a stage, the ocean is a pretty spectacular one! Well, if the organic carbon coming out of rivers was a performer, I think it would be Houdini. Continue reading →

Guest Post: Dr Anieke Brombacher – Evolution and the fossil record: What plankton can tell us?

The oceans hold tight many secrets but also many clues to unlocking the mysteries of the past. One such secret is evolution. While evolution may be a deeply complex process, perhaps many of the puzzle pieces needed to solve the mysteries of evolutionary biology lie with some of the smallest organisms found in the oceans. Continue reading →

The ‘Missing’ Carbon Conundrum… Part 1

Here’s a little thought experiment for you: Imagine you have some fish in a tank, and you feed them a mixture of small, easy to digest flakes and larger, more difficult to digest flakes. Continue reading →

Scubadiving unlocks hidden worlds

My name is Nina and I have just started my PhD at the National Oceanography Center Southampton on microplastic presence in UK waterways. I have been drawn to the ocean ever since a very young age and the first time I knew I would be committed to studying and learning about the sea was during my first scuba dive at the age of 11. Continue reading →

A day in the life of a first year palaeoceanography PhD student

Ever wondered what a standard day in the life of a PhD student at NOCS is like? Well, firstly, the day for two PhD students from two different research groups will look slightly different but here is an insight into my typical day at work as a first year PhD student in the Palaeoceanography and Palaeoclimate research group..... Most days start with reading and emails. Continue reading →

I am a Palaeoceanographer

As a palaeoceanographer most of the samples I work on have been collected during ocean drilling expeditions by the International Ocean Discovery Program (or DSDP/ODP, IODP’s predecessors). This vital program brings together scientists from all around the world to work together to tackle the big remaining unanswered science questions about our oceans and Earth’s history. Continue reading →

Swept overboard – The science of rogue waves

Alex Cattrell – Southampton Marine Maritime Institute Ph.D. researcher. “At 0624 there was a huge impact on the starboard side of the vessel. I felt my world spin upside-down. The shriek of the gale was silent, it was completely black and the floor was now the roof”; Rod Briggs recalls what happened to him on the 40ft Vyndi in the 1990s to YachtingWorld (2017). Continue reading →

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