Marine research and the role of the shipping industry

Peter Hinchliffewith thanks to:

OceanScope and

The burning questions

http://www.carboncounter.info/

50%

25%

25%

The Oceans and

Climate?

Climate (CO2) control by biology (& chemistry)

CO2 sequestration to depth

Modified after http://www.muchapedia.com/image-files/ocean-circulation.jpg

Climate (heat) control by physics

SO how can the shipping industry help out ?

The ocean conveyor belt

Commercial ships go where few scientists have gone before

and much more frequently

OceanScope is leading the way in how best to do this

Oceanography all day everyday and everywhere

Using Ships of Opportunity (SOOs)

What is a ship of opportunity (SOO)?

Real-time transmission

• Climate

• Circulation

• Biodiversity

• Invasive species

• Pollution baselines

Repeating track

Power & water intakeNo impact on ship’s normal operation

Types of ships of opportunity (SOOs)

Rig Supply Vessels

Cargo Vessels

Ferries

Oil tanker

Cruise Ships

Cargo Vessels

Measuring physics

ADCP Transducer

measuring currents Salinity

Temperature

8 c

m9 c

m

~6

0 c

m

mounted in wells near the keel amidships

ADCP Transducers

University of Miami

Where in the World : CO2 uptake data

No year to year information eitherTakahashi et al., 2009

More dataLess data

Database is full of holes

The current global CO2 network is small

International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project

Filling the holes using SOOs

Major benefits of SOOs

To SCIENCE

To SOCIETY

To INDUSTRY

To GOVERNMENT

• Collects scientific data on a regular basis

• Observes change in the ocean impossible to get

by other means

• Fills big holes in data/understanding

• Highly cost effective

• A global perspective

Major benefits of SOOs – To SCIENCE

• Climate change

• Pollution

• Awareness raising

• Underpins regulation/policy

Major benefits of SOOs – To SOCIETY

Helps inform on how to respond to

• Better information on their environment

• Educational & promotional outreach to stakeholders

& public

• Influence policy (e.g. setting of emissions reduction)

• Informs environmental & corporate responsibilities

Major benefits of SOOs – To INDUSTRY

SCOR* OceanScope

• A science-industry partnership for the sustained systematic

study of the global ocean water column using SOOs …

making the vision a reality

• Using instrumentation that operates without the need for

human presence and to operate automatically

• No interference with the ship’s normal operation

• To transmit quality data in near real-time

• Merchant vessels as “satellites orbiting the Earth at sea level”

*Scientific Committee for Ocean Research