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Autumn 2018 newsletter

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Scotia surveyScientists from the ERI have just returned from a pioneering research cruise using drones (unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs) to survey the MeyGen tidal stream energy site. Through a collaboration with the University of Aberdeen, MASTS and Marine Scotland Science, Dr Benjamin Williamson and Dr Jason McIlvenny spent 4 days surveying the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, Scotland.

They completed over 40 drone flights, recording the distribution of animals on the sea surface together with surface hydrodynamic information as a potential classifier of habitat type. The Marine Scotland Science research vessel Scotia followed the drone, and wildlife observers on the vessel ground-truthed drone measurements, recording over 11,000 birds over the

4-day survey. In addition, acoustic instruments on the vessel measured the flow of water (turbulence and hydrodynamic features) and schools of fish in the water column, the prey of diving seabirds.

The research is informing studies of the environmental interactions of tidal stream energy development with surrounding ecosystems, including potential effects on hydrodynamics, fish, diving seabirds and marine mammals.

For more information contactbenjamin.williamson@uhi.ac.ukhttp://tinyurl.com/eriDrones

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Marine Scotland Science research vessel Scotia

The UAV gathers georeferenced images of seabirds and hydrodynamic surface characteristics. Flights are at an altitude of 60 m, and ahead of the vessel to allow ground-truthing of UAV measurements by observers and instruments on the vessel

This research is funded by a Royal Society Research Grant RSG\R1\180430 and the NERC VertIBase project NE/N01765X/1.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the University of Aberdeen, Marine Scotland Science, MASTS, the crew of MRV Scotia in 2016 and 2018, and ERI interns Gael Gelis and Martin Forestier.

Model data of tidal currents in the Inner Sound, Pentland Firth, for (top) Flood, and (bottom) Ebb

The observers recorded over 11,000 seabirds during the 4 day survey (photo credit L Williamson)

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Halladale catchment campaignThis July a multi-disciplinary team of 19 scientists visited the Halladale catchment to study the flow of carbon from land to sea as part of the NERC-funded Land Ocean CArbon TransfEr (LOCATE) programme (locate.ac.uk). The team, comprised of researchers from the National Oceanography Centre, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the British Geological Survey and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, were hosted by the ERI, who are a collaborator on the LOCATE project.

During the two week campaign, the team investigated the processes by which carbon is transformed within the aquatic continuum. This catchment study follows on from LOCATE programme’s success last year in undertaking the first ever coordinated sampling of carbon in the major rivers of Great Britain, to determine the annual flux of carbon from land to sea. Peatlands are particularly important in contributing to this overall flux and, as it drains one of the largest areas of blanket bog in Europe, the Halladale presents an ideal study catchment to further understanding of aquatic carbon processing.

Water samples collected from the Halladale catchment and its estuary were used in laboratory based experiments at the ERI. Specific processes of interest, including biological decomposition, light-driven breakdown (photolysis), de-gassing, flocculation and burial of carbon, were measured in samples collected from the peatland headwater streams through to the saline marine end. The laboratory facilities provided by the ERI ensured that the team were able to run all of their planned experiments, generating high quality data which will improve understanding of the fate of peatland derived carbon.

The long term vision for these experimental data is their use in predictive models which are able to represent the key processing pathways relevant to aquatic carbon, particularly for carbon that has originated in peatlands.

For more information contact Amy Pickard (amypic92@ceh.ac.uk), Bryan Spears (spear@ceh.ac.uk), Pete Gilbert (peter.gilbert@uhi.ac.uk), Stuart Gibb (stuart.gibb@uhi.ac.uk)

LOCATE team researchers enjoying a pub trip in Thurso

Estuarine sediment cores collected during the LOCATE Halladale campaign, with banding indicating variation in organic carbon burial

Water samples collected on the same day at different points in the catchment showing a distinctive colour gradient

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Botanising Plantlife’s Munsary Peatland When thinking of peatlands we tend to picture ground that is wet underfoot, a complex series of pool systems, and the rusty reds and greens of the plants that grow there – particularly the Sphagnum mosses that lock in so much carbon. This year at the end of June the scene at Munsary was different: dust on the track to the reserve, dried up pools, and pale greens of the Sphagnum faded by the warm sunshine that greeted us.

Several ERI staff and students, with Richard Lindsay and Jack Clough (from the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) – part of the University of East London), and Eliot Storer (a sociocultural anthropology PhD

student from Rice University, USA), combined skills to collect vegetation data from fixed transects. These are marked by a metal pole sunk in the ground at two corners, and required a GPS and a metal detector to be located. Botanising could then begin in earnest!

This year’s vegetation data will be added to those from previous surveys (2007 and 2016) and, combined with the auxiliary data held and from ongoing data collecting, will help us understand how the peatland system at Munsary is faring.

For more information contactdave.braidwood@uhi.ac.uk

Bird work in NorwayPhD student Daniel Johnston had the good fortune to be invited to join the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) on the island of Sklinna to take part in a black guillemot tracking project. Sklinna, a lighthouse island on the west coast of central Norway, though only a few kilometres long, is packed with common guillemots, puffins, razorbills, shags, gulls and white-tailed eagles. Daniel’s work entailed finding the sometimes cryptic black guillemot nests, catching and attaching GPS loggers to adult black guillemots. This work complimented the field experience he gained during his PhD. The results of the tagging provided the most detailed knowledge of black guillemot foraging behaviour for Sklinna. It has also opened the door for future collaborative work between NINA and ERI.

For more information contactdaniel.johnston@uhi.ac.uk

Metal poles are sunk in the ground to mark transects for vegetation data collection

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Monitoring wave and tide interactionThe Pentland Firth is both subject to some of the strongest tidal currents in the world, and potential high swells reaching up from the North-Atlantic. The strength of its currents makes it attractive for tidal stream energy, but it is also a unique “laboratory” for studying the interaction between waves and currents under extreme conditions. Such study does not only have an academic interest but also can be useful for evaluating the potential effect of high waves on the tidal resources, the fatigue induced on installations, or the impact of tidal energy extraction on the wave patterns.

Taken up the challenge, ERI is monitoring the effects of high wave and current interaction in the Pentland Firth by deploying a set of instruments during the winter period. The PhD project, conducted by Clare MacDowall, involves different aspects including field monitoring, data analysis, comparison with theory, and hydrodynamic modelling. It involves a close collaboration between ERI and Marine Scotland Science (MSS).

The first phase of monitoring included deploying an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and an acoustic wave and current profiler (AWAC) north of Dunnet Head. These instruments recorded current flow speeds and directions over the water depth, and also wave characteristics. This monitoring at sea supported a series of wave and current measurements from the shore using ERI’s X-band radar.

In order to cover a wide range of sea states and therefore a variety of wave-current combinations, the instruments remained deployed at sea over a two to four month period during spring. A second set of experiments with the AWAC will complement the records for the Autumn period.

During the period of deployment, the X-band radar monitored the sea state from Dunnet Head, overlooking the location of the in-situ instruments. The radar has the advantage over the ADCP and AWAC, in that it is quicker to deploy and, being shore-based, is less expensive. The radar provides surface wave and current measurements over a 3km radius area, while the ADCP and AWAC give continuous information on waves and current depth profiles at single locations. The intention is that wave and current data collected from instruments below the water surface can be cross-referenced and correlated with the radar data. Not only will these validate the radar wave data, but they will help our understanding of the interaction between tides and waves over tidal cycles and a range of sea conditions.

The data collected during this monitoring campaign will tie up with the predictions of a hydrodynamic model of the Pentland Firth to provide an in-depth analysis of wave-current interaction under extreme conditions and to extend the characterisation over a wider area of the Pentland Firth, giving potentially valuable information to tidal energy site developers and mariners within the region.

For more information contact clare.macdowall@uhi.ac.ukphilippe.gleizon@uhi.ac.uk

Deployment of AWAC north of Dunnet Head, and radar wave recording (inset)

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From St. Augustine to the wild northThe ERI recently hosted a group from Flagler College, Florida in contribution to a summer school programme led by Inverness College UHI. The group of twenty students and staff came from St. Augustine on the north east coast of Florida, which is the oldest city in the United States (dating to 1565).

The students, majoring in science and history, were based in Inverness for the one-month programme and visited the ERI for three days of laboratory and field activity, and to experience the natural environments, history and culture of Caithness.

The programme started at the RSPB Forsinard Flows Nature Reserve in Sutherland where the group were welcomed by the site manager and viewed the highly acclaimed Flow Country film. They were given a talk on peatland science by ERIs Paul Gaffney, and the opportunity to tour the visitor centre and recently constructed observation tower, and view sites of blanket bog restoration in action.

On their second day, the visitors were introduced to two highly topical research areas at ERI; the monitoring and fate of pharmaceuticals in natural and waste waters, and marine microplastic pollution. Working with PhD researcher Lydia Niemi, students were given the opportunity to extract and analyse pharmaceuticals from water samples. They then visited Thurso beach with researchers Neil James and David Braidwood to collect sand samples from

which they separated and examined microplastics by microscope. The day concluded with a visit to Caithness Horizons and a historic walking tour of Thurso (led by Alan McIvor of the Thurso Heritage Society) and an evening filled with anecdotes which would surprise many who had lived in Caithness all their lives!

The final day was dedicated to the culture and history of Caithness. Paul Gaffney, Derek Elsby and Uthman Badmus acted as tour guides with stops at Castlehill harbour, Dunnet Head, Mary Ann’s Cottage, Castle of Mey and Dunnet beach: no one went into the sea but all were highly impressed by the tours from staff at Mary Ann’s and the Castle of Mey.

Dr Wayne Riggs, chair of the department of Humanities at Flagger College wrote “The experience that our students had was incredible, the program you have built with the ERI embraces the same principles of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration that is fundamental to what we are doing at Flagler College”. This was a three-day summer school visit but moving forward we see great potential to strengthen links between the first coast of Florida and Caithness.

For more information contact audrey.ross@uhi.ac.ukstuart.gibb@uhi.ac.ukpaul.gaffney@uhi.ac.ik

Flagler students and staff at Castlehill harbour

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Lee Heaney Circular Ocean

Project Manager

I joined ERI in July and will be managing the Circular Ocean project for the next 6 months while Dr Neil James is on paternity leave. My role will be to manage the overall project and finances as well as ensuring all targets are met. As the project is due to finish in the late Autumn I will also be responsible for the final reporting and closing of the project.

My background is in project and financial management and during my career I have worked in the private sector, public sector and academia and during the past 15 years I have been involved in many

NPA projects. Prior to joining the ERI, I worked as a consultant for Rossal Research and Consultancy providing strategic, financial and management advice to organisations leading EU projects.I currently live in Ullapool with my family and enjoy walking my wee ginger Jack Russell Suzie.I am looking forward to working with the team on this exciting project and to spending some time in the north.

For more information contact lee.heaney@uhi.ac.uk

New faces @ ERI

Martin ForestierErasmus Student

Hi, I am Martin and I am a French engineering student from Grenoble, where I specialised in environmental engineering.

As I am very sensitive about environmental and social problems, I joined the ERI in June for a three-month placement, to investigate the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle for environmental monitoring of tidal energy sites with Dr Benjamin Williamson. I focus on detecting hydrological phenomena using MATLAB software. It is also

an opportunity to discover what kind of projects the Environmental Research Institute focuses on, and the impact of its studies.

I really look forward to discovering Scotland and hiking in its mountains as it seems to be such a beautiful country, as well as discovering its culture and lovely people.

For more information contactmartin.forestier@uhi.ac.uk

Huiyi ZhangPhD student

Hello, I am Huiyi from China, a PhD student in ERI, Castle Street. I finished my master’s degree, majoring in Aquatic System Science at the University of Glasgow in 2014. I then moved to KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) in South Korea to continue my research on novel carbon based adsorbents.

I joined the ERI in June for a 3.5 year project funded by the EU Social Fund. During my study, I will work

with Szabolcs Pap, Neil James and Stuart Gibb. My research will focus on microplastics in the ocean. I will study the marine microplastics problem and adsorption processes of different marine plastics with various contaminants.

For more information contact:huiyi.zhang@uhi.ac.uk

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Castle Street, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 7JD, Scotland

Tel: +44 (0) 1847 889589 Fax: +44 (0) 1847 890014Email: eri-info@thurso.uhi.ac.uk

Centre for Energy & Environment, North Highland College UHI, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 7EE, Scotland

Tel: +44 (0) 1847 889000Fax: +44 (0) 1847 889001Web: www.eri.ac.uk

environmental research from a new perspective

PublicationsAlshammari, L., Large, D. J., Boyd, D. S., Sowter, A., Anderson, R., Andersen, R. & Marsh, S., 2018. Long-term Peatland Condition Assessment via Surface Motion Monitoring using the ISABAS DInSAR Technique over the Flow Country, Scotland. Remote Sensing. 10, 7; doi: 10.3390/rs10071103

Brown, B., Bythell, J. & Kirkwood, T., 2018. Do reef corals age? Biological Reviews. 93, 2, p. 1192-1202; doi: 10.1111/brv.12391

Cook, A. S. C. P., Humphreys, E. M., Bennet, F., Masden, E. A. & Burton, N. H. K., 2018. Quantifying avian avoidance of offshore wind turbines: Current evidence and key knowledge gaps. Marine Environmental Research. 11 p. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.06.017

Daté, V., Nwaishi, F. C., Price, J. S. & Andersen, R., 2018. Short-term exposure to Oil Sand Process-Affected Water does not reduce microbial potential activity in three contrasting peatland types. Wetlands; doi: 10.1007/s13157-018-1026-5

Fraser, S., Williamson, B. J., Nikora, V. & Scott, B. E., 2018. Fish distributions in a tidal channel indicate the behavioural impact of a marine renewable energy installation: Tidal stream energy Environmental impact Fish behaviour Tidal flow. Energy Reports. 4, p. 65-69; doi: 10.1016/j.egyr.2018.01.008

Gaffney, P. P., Hancock, M. H., Taggart, M. A. & Andersen, R., 2018. Measuring restoration progress using pore- and surface-water chemistry across a chronosequence of formerly afforested blanket bogs. Journal of Environmental Management. 219, p. 239-251; doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.04.106

Hancock, M. H., Klein, D., Andersen, R. & Cowie, N. R., 2018. Vegetation response to restoration management of a blanket bog damaged by drainage and afforestation. Applied Vegetation Science. 21, 2, p. 167-178; doi: 10.1111/avsc.12367

Holden, J., Moody, C. S., Turner, T. E., McKenzie, R., Baird, A. J., Billett, M. F., Chapman, P. J., Dinsmore, K. J., Grayson, R. P., Andersen, R., Gee, C. & Dooling, G., 2018. Water-level dynamics in natural and artificial pools in blanket peatlands. Hydrological Processes. 32, 4, p. 550-561; doi: 10.1002/hyp.11438

Johnston, D. T., Furness, R. W., Robbins, A. M. C., Tyler, G., Taggart, M. A. & Masden, E. A., 2018. Black guillemot ecology in relation to tidal stream energy generation: An evaluation of current knowledge and information gaps. Marine Environmental Research. 134, p. 121-129; doi: 0.1016/j.marenvres.2018.01.007

Zavarsky , A., Goddijn-Murphy, L., Steinhoff, T. & Marandino, C., 2018. Bubble mediated gas transfer and gas transfer suppression of DMS and CO2. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 123, p. 6624-6647; doi: 10.1029/2017JD028071

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