Photos from the shipyard
Posted: July 31, 2012 Filed under: Investigator, Marine National Facility, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentThere is lots happening at the shipyard for the construction of Australia’s new Marine National Facility Research Vessel Investigator.
Check out the photos!
Applications to use Investigator in 2014-15 – pre-proposals due today!
Posted: July 27, 2012 Filed under: Fast Fact!, Home, Investigator, Marine National Facility Leave a commentThe new Marine National Facility (MNF) Research Vessel Investigator is currently under construction. Following a commissioning period in 2013-2014, Investigator is scheduled to be available for research in Australia’s regional seas and oceans in 2014-2015. Owned and operated by CSIRO, Investigator has been designed to undertake research in:
- physical, chemical and biological oceanography,
- marine geosciences,
- fisheries, and
- environmental science.
The vessel will be particularly suited to multi-disciplinary research projects.
Call for Applications for the Financial Year 2014-2015
Australian marine researchers are invited to submit an application for use of Investigator during the period July 2014 to June 2015.
The MNF Steering Committee encourages new applicants, applications for national and international collaborative projects and projects covering more than one year.
Area of Operations 2014-2015
The MNF Steering Committee has not specified an Area of Operations in 2014-2015. Applications will be accepted for work in all Australian regional seas and oceans, from the tropics to the Antarctic ice edge.
Closing Date for Applications
A brief pre-proposal must be submitted by 27 July 2012 and full applications submitted by 24 August 2012. Further details on applying for use of Investigator and application forms are available through the MNF website.
All the details you need to apply can be found on the MNF website www.marine.csiro.au/nationalfacility/Investigator/index.htm.
A whole new world of research possibilities for atmospheric scientists
Posted: July 23, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, Marine National Facility, RV Southern Surveyor, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentOpportunities onboard Australia’s new research vessel Investigator
Poster by Melita Keywood and Sarah Lawson
Construction of Australia’s new ocean-going research vessel, RV Investigator is currently underway, and on its completion in 2013 will provide opportunities for international collaboration in marine and atmospheric research. 
Construction of RV Investigator
In May 2009 the Australian Government allocated $120 million for a new ocean-going research vessel to replace the current Marine National Facility Research Vessel, the 66-metre Southern Surveyor.
The new vessel is being designed, built and commissioned by CSIRO through the Future Research Vessel Project, an initiative of the Australian Government being conducted as part of the Super Science Initiative and financed from the Education Investment Fund.
The new vessel, RV Investigator, will be owned and managed by CSIRO. Its operation will be guided by an independent steering committee and funded by the Australian Government to support voyages mounted by Australian scientists and their overseas collaborators.
Overview
Length Overall 93.9 m
Beam 18.5 m
Draft 5.7 m
Classification +100A1, +LMC, UMS, Ice 1c, IWS, EP, Research Vessel, DP1 (AM), DnV Silent-R
Crew 18 (TBC)
Science Berths 40
Endurance 60 days
About the vessel
RV Investigator will operate from the tropical north to the Antarctic ice-edge and across the Indian, Southern, and Pacific oceans, greatly improving Australia’s capacity to:
- investigate and understand marine geological processes;
- detect and predict changes in the ocean environment and their implications for weather and climate; and
- characterise and manage marine ecosystems, biodiversity and fisheries.
Atmospheric research on board RV Investigator
RV Investigator will have a two dedicated laboratories for atmospheric research:
- Aerosol laboratory located at the bow of the ship
- Air chemistry laboratory adjacent to the foredeck
Air will be drawn into the laboratories via an aerosol sampling mast (part of foremast) with an inlet located 24 m above the sea surface, which point into the direction of the wind (Bates et al. 2002).
Various instruments will be mounted on the foremast for the measurement of sea-air fluxes and a weather radar will compliment the range of detailed meteorological observations that will be routinely made.
Sites for two containers on the foredeck will supply laboratory space for intensive measurement campaigns.
Atmospheric research on board the RV Investigator will take the form of “routine” climate tracking observations and mission driven campaign experiments.
Collaboration with international researchers is strongly supported by the Marine National Facility.
Opportunities for collaboration
RV Investigator offers the opportunity to sample, observe and measure the atmosphere in one of the most under sampled areas of the world. The Marine National Facility (MNF) Steering Committee calls for applications for sea time annually and encourages applications for national and international collaborative projects.
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- Southern Ocean Flux Station (SOFS) buoy.
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- CTD – conductivity, temperature, depth profiling instrument.
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- CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Seasoar.
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- Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is MUFTI-2 Multiple Frequency Towed Instrument
Safety Incentive Awards at the shipyard!
Posted: July 18, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentWe recently held the monthly safety incentive awards ceremony at the shipyard and celebrated the ongoing effort everyone’s putting into make it a safe place to work.
To date we’re still maintaining zero Lost Time Injuries (LTI), which means there’s been no lost time due to an accident or injury. When you add up all the hours everyone’s put in, that’s over 450,000 man hours! 
Six workers were given certificate awards (including a gift pack) for their ongoing commitment to safety, in front of about 350 clients, contractors and shipyard staff.
We hold this event every month cooperatively with Teekay Australia and Sembawang Shipyard, to provide safety talks by CSIRO, shipyard managers and health, safety and environmental promoters.
You can read more about CSIRO’s commitment to occupational health, safety and environment, on our website at http://www.csiro.au/Portals/About-CSIRO/How-we-work/Budget–Performance/Health-Safety–Environment.aspx
Full steam ahead!
Posted: July 16, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentInvestigator’s propulsion motor is built, tested, approved and about to be shipped from Spain to Singapore. Here are some of the team members who’ve made this possible, standing next to the motor a few weeks ago.
The smiley bloke wearing the navy blue collared shirt is our very own Marine Engineer David Humphreys, to his left in pale blue is Teekay Australia’s Tony Fielding, the Project Director for RV Investigator and next to him is Mark Coleman also from Teekay Holdings Australia.
Australia leads on Southern Ocean carbon dioxide monitoring
Posted: July 13, 2012 Filed under: Home, Marine National Facility, Media Releases, RV Southern Surveyor Leave a comment
MEDIA RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ANTARCTIC CLIMATE & ECOSYSTEMS COOPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE 11 JULY 2012
Australia’s Marine National Facility research vessel, Southern Surveyor, returns to the Southern Ocean this week in a pilot project to measure the air-sea exchange of heat, moisture, carbon dioxide and oxygen in the sub-Antarctic ocean, and at the same time to test the continuing ability of moored instruments to withstand the roughest ocean conditions anywhere
Managed by CSIRO, Southern Surveyor will deploy three moored measuring systems to be anchored at a depth of nearly five kilometres, or four times the height of Hobart’s Mt Wellington, about 580km south-west of Tasmania.
The moorings form part of the Australian Government funded Integrated Marine Observing System, providing enhanced monitoring in the Southern Ocean.
The moored instruments include a $1m weather station (managed by the Bureau of Meteorology), a specialist biogeochemical sensor and sampler mooring developed by CSIRO, and a deep sea sinking particle flux mooring provided by the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre.
The voyage’s Chief Scientist, Professor Tom Trull, from CSIRO, the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania , said the project was the only one of its type in the Southern Ocean.
“While the Southern Ocean plays a significant role in the global climate system, there is a paucity of sustained observations in this harsh and remote region. These high quality observations are a valuable contribution to understanding ocean processes that contribute to climate variability.
“The ability of the ocean to soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and remove it to ocean depths is a natural process but the rate of that exchange and its influence on other chemical and biological properties in the ocean is now a central climate science question.
Bureau of Meteorology engineer, Eric Schultz, and Chief Scientist, Tom Trull, with the $1m weather station being deployed in the Southern Ocean as part of a project. The station is one of three moorings being deployed in the sub-Antarctic.
“We know the sub-Antarctic ocean is a hotspot for uptake of carbon dioxide and deployment of these mooring systems over the next 18 months will give us an insight into changes occurring from day-to-day and season-to-season in the upper ocean and at the sea surface.
“The results we obtain will be of interest around the world to climate and carbon cycle scientists,” Professor Trull said. Professor Trull will be available for interviews and pictures with the moorings on Wednesday, July 11 at 10am.
For more information:
Miranda Harman, ACE CRC Communications and Media Manager
What’s happening in the shipyard?
Posted: July 11, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, Marine National Facility, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentCheck out the latest construction photos for Australia’s new marine research vessel Investigator.
