RV Investigator hits 800 tonnes of steel
Posted: September 4, 2012 Filed under: Investigator, Marine National Facility, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentThe construction of Australia’s new Marine National Facility research vessel Investigator now has over 800 tonnes of steel in place.
The ship is being erected on a wharf at the Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore, under the management of Teekay Australia, which was awarded the contract for the commissioning and construction of Investigator.
The Executive Director of the Future Research Vessel Project, Toni Moate said the addition of two blocks to the hull of the ship saw Investigator hit the 800 tonne mark.
“The ship is being constructed in blocks with the hull blocks each weighing over 100 tonnes, and to date nine blocks have been welded together,” Ms Moate said.
Once each block is assembled in the shed, it’s loaded onto a large, slow moving flatbed truck and first taken off for a high pressure wash, then into the paint shed, where it’s coated inside and out. Next it’s taken to the RV Investigator Erection Area, where cranes lift each section into place and it’s welded together.
“We’ve also just fitted the three main engines into the hull, which now means sections of the superstructure can start to be added, which includes space for laboratories, cabins and the bridge.”
Back in Australia the Future Research Vessel Project Team is hard at work finalising the process for the purchase of scientific equipment for Investigator.
“We expect to be able to go out to market for the purchase of around AUD$6 million worth of scientific equipment shortly, which will be a good opportunity for local suppliers,” Ms Moate said.
The list of equipment is long and includes things like a very large weather radar, instruments for deep sediment coring and a trace metal clean container, to name just a few items.
Details of the full list of scientific equipment for Investigator will be posted on this blog in coming weeks.
It was in 2009 the Australian Government committed AU$120 million to the purchase of a new research vessel for Australia’s Marine National Facility. The project is an initiative of the Australian Government being conducted as part of the Super Science Initiative and financed from the Education Investment Fund.
Meet a member of the Future Research Vessel Project Team: Dr Brian Griffiths
Posted: September 3, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, Marine National Facility, RV Southern Surveyor, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentThis profile is featured in the current edition of ECOS Magazine http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?paper=EC12402.
Brian Griffiths: called back to the sea
Biological oceanographer Brian Griffith officially retired from CSIRO in 2010. But, with an impressive ocean-voyaging record behind him, it’s no surprise the sea lured him back. Here, Brian talks to ECOS about playing soccer on sea ice, and his recent work on the technical design team for RV Investigator, Australia’s new marine research vessel that’s due for completion in 2013.
What aspects of your career do you think have prepared you for your work on the RV Investigator?
I was involved in the conversion of Southern Surveyor, Australia’s current marine research vessel. I have also sailed on Southern Surveyor and before that Sprightly and Courageous, as well as a couple of research trips on the French vessel, Marion du Fresne, and a number of voyages on Aurora Australis – Australia’s Antarctic flagship – among other ocean research journeys.
What are some of your more memorable voyages?
Probably the most memorable day was during a Marion Dufresne voyage in the Kerguelen Islands in the sub-Antarctic. The research part of the trip was finished. The scientific crew were taken about 10 kilometres up from the harbour, dropped on the beach and told ‘If you’re not back at the wharf by 5:00, we’ll pick you up in October’. It was February. We had a clear, still day wandering through this beautiful island with elephant seals and birds. It was magnificent.
Another wonderful day was on one of the Aurora Australis voyages, where we had to do some work tied up to the fast sea ice (ice that extends out from land into sea). The scientists who weren’t working were allowed onto the ice and a soccer game took place.
Scientifically speaking, probably the most memorable voyage was the last one I did in 2007, where I was chief scientist on Aurora Australis, which was carrying 62 scientists from 14 countries. We were attempting to figure out why biological productivity off the east coast of Tasmania is higher than in waters off the west of Tasmania. [We discovered that] the reason why is tied up with the supply of iron. It was great science, a great team of people from all over the world and it was great fun.
What are some of the things that excite you about RV Investigator?
We can carry about 40 scientists on the RV. On Southern Surveyor, we can carry a maximum of about 13 or 14. The increased number of scientists means we can go out and do interdisciplinary science.
We can, for example, have atmospheric specialists on board measuring various things in the atmosphere and collecting aerosol samples. And, we can have biological oceanographers on board who are looking at the impact of the role of iron in controlling phytoplankton production. These teams can hook up and ask questions such as: ‘Are aerosols dropping iron into the ocean, and if so, how much, and what sort of impact is this having?’. At the same time, the chemists and biochemists can be investigating the chemistry of the ocean and what might be coming in from the aerosols.
We’ve never had this capability before. It’s a new quantum in understanding the interactions within the ocean atmosphere system.
And technically?
There are a lot of advanced atmospheric instruments going on to RV Investigator. These include radars to look at cloud structures and rainfall patterns, and aerosol sampling instruments.
Previously, when the atmospheric guys wanted to get measurements made, they would have to piggy-back on to American vessels. So, this is a really major advance.
Like the Southern Surveyor, RV Investigator will be able to measure solar and terrestrial radiation to determine ocean heating. But, I understand that the RV will be able to collect this data nearly year-round and in a wider variety of locations.
Yes, there is a lot of emphasis on data collection and integration with data from satellite sensors, autonomous vehicles, and shore based instruments – in real time.
The ocean is dynamic. Typically in the past, you could be out at sea and find a feature, but it was impossible to determine what it was. It would only be after you returned and could look at, for example, processed satellite data, that you’d get your answer.
For example, in the late 1970s we found a strange feature while working on the warm currents off the New South Wales coast. We spent about four days trying to figure out what it was, but it was only after we got back – about five months later – and saw processed satellite images (in those days, satellite images were in absolute infancy) that we understood what we were dealing with.
The last voyage I led in 2007, where I was chief scientist on Aurora Australis, we were getting real-time satellite data in a day relayed from shore. This allowed us to adapt our sampling strategies based on images of sea-surface temperature and ocean colour. And, that really helped us focus our efforts.
The new vessel will have even higher data integration capabilities, allowing us to focus on process-based studies on the dynamics of the ocean.
Brian Griffiths was in conversation with ECOS’s Michele Sabto.
Full applications to use RV Investigator in 2014-15 close today!
Posted: August 24, 2012 Filed under: 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 2012and 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.
Australia’s Marine National Facility, exploring the tropics and open for free public tours!
Posted: August 22, 2012 Filed under: Marine National Facility, RV Southern Surveyor Leave a comment
Australia’s Marine National Facility research vessel Southern Surveyor is heading to the tropical north on two marine research voyages in September and October and then the ship’s doors will be thrown open for free public tours in Darwin.
On the first voyage between Fremantle and Darwin in September scientists, with the aid of science teachers from around the country, will be collecting data to create the first map to show the distribution of floating marine plastics in Australian waters. The data will be compared against CSIRO’s coastal debris surveys to quantify plastic pollution hazards and its distribution.
This project is just one element of a national marine debris audit being undertaken by CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship, where researchers are auditing the amount of marine rubbish on Australia’s beaches by collecting data every 100 kilometres right around Australia. With the aid of school groups and citizen scientists, the coastline from Cape Tribulation to Broome has been surveyed so far.
The second voyage will leave Darwin to head to Timor Leste waters in late September, in order to deploy scientific moorings that will collect data over the next 18 months. Researchers want to understand more about the major current traveling between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
This ocean highway is called the Indonesian Throughflow and it has a major influence on the climate of the regional and global climate. The heat and fresh water carried by the Indonesian Throughflow are known to affect both the Pacific and Indian Oceans, however we know very little about how this current changes across the seasons.
This science will help us understand the strength of the Indonesian Throughflow, the kinds of nutrients that are picked up and carried along by this current that can feed commercial fisheries, and how this current affects Australia’s climate and coastal waters.
Being a marine scientist might be the coolest job in the world, right? Well if you’d like to get a taste for life on board Australia’s Marine National Facility research vessel Southern Surveyor, then you’ll need to come down to Stokes Hill Wharf 12-14 October for free public tours.
Places for tours are strictly limited and we expect to be over-subscribed.
To ensure you secure a place on a tour, please email Linda Gaskell at .
Things you need to know before booking:
- While you’re on the tour you need to wear closed-toed shoes like joggers, so bring them along and pop them on before you come on board. Sorry no thongs or sandals.
- No children 10 years of age or under.
- Children 11-15 years must be accompanied by a supervising adult.
- Stairways and gangways throughout the ship are narrow and steep.
- Southern Surveyor is air conditioned.
Quiet on board please: science underway!
Posted: August 20, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, Marine National Facility, The Future Research Vessel Project Leave a commentECOS Magazine published this article about the scientific capabilities of RV Investigator. It’s a great read as it describes the hull, drop keel and the gondola designs and capabilities.
The article was written by our very own Dr Brian Griffiths, who is a member of the Future Research Vessel Project Team, and Michele Sabto from ECOS Magazine.
The first massive pieces of the hull of Australia’s new scientific research ship, RV Investigator, were winched into place last month in a Singapore shipyard. CSIRO’s Dr Brian Griffiths and ECOS writer Michele Sabto give readers a preview of the impressive technology mounted in and on the hull.
Australia has responsibility for an area of ocean larger than our land mass, and a coastline stretching 70,000 kilometres. Our territory encompasses the world’s greatest diversity of marine species and habitats within a single nation. How do our scientists move around this watery world?
Southern Surveyor is Australia’s grand old lady of scientific sea expeditions. Operated by the CSIRO through the Marine National Facility, she has been a research vessel for 22 years and has served Australia’s scientific community well, having carried out 111 Marine National Facility voyages and chalked up an astonishing 481,550 kilometres of travel. That’s equivalent to going around the equator 12 times – further than the distance from Earth to the Moon!
Crews on Southern Surveyor have discovered submarine volcanoes between Fiji and Samoa and have examined climate records from ancient corals, producing a carbon chemistry map of the Great Barrier Reef region. On the now famous ‘Vortex Voyage’, a 2006 expedition led by Professor Anya Waite, Southern Surveyor came across a massive 200-kilometre wide vortex off the coast of Rottnest Island, Western Australia. This one voyage alone prompted more than 20 international journal papers.
But, Southern Surveyor’s days as Australia’s premier research vessel are numbered. It will soon be time for a new ship to step up. That ship is RV Investigator.
Due for completion in 2013, RV Investigator will be 93.9 metres long (Southern Surveyor is 66 metres). Each voyage will be able to accommodate 40 scientists (Southern Surveyor is limited to 15), and the ship will be able to go to sea for up to 60 days, covering 10, 000 nautical miles per voyage.
A high-tech hull
The hull of RV Investigator and its machinery have been designed to ensure that the vessel is as quiet as possible. This is because radiated noise interferes with the operation of hull-mounted instruments and alters the behaviour of fish and aquatic mammals. Noises made by the ship will be monitored by four multifrequency hydrophones on the hull. As the ship ages, it is expected that new noises will emerge.
When a hull moves through water, it also produces another type of interference: micro-bubbles. As an analogy, think of driving along a road at night and getting caught in a snowstorm. All of a sudden, you can’t see. Because the underwater micro-bubbles either absorb the signal from the ship’s instruments or reflect it, it is hard to get a good signal, and the range of the instruments decreases.
RV Investigator gets around the interference of the bubble layer in two main ways: a gondola and drop keels.
The gondola
To get instruments down below the bubble layer, they will be carried on a large gondola, like a winged keel, mounted 1.5 metres below the hull. A lot of time has been spent running scale models of the hull in tanks, looking at where the bubbles might be generated. The gondola should operate at peak efficiency, because it will be well below the bubble zone.
At around 13 metres long and 9 metres wide, the gondola is able to carry several important acoustic instruments. These include two ‘swath mappers’ to map the seafloor. Swath mappers contain an array of transmitters that send out acoustic signal beam downwards and sideways, and then measure the signal strength and return time. This builds up a topographic map of the sea floor under the ship. One of the swath mappers operates down to about 500 metres and is used on the shelf and the upper slope for obtaining very high-resolution topographic maps of the sea floor. The other, a full ocean-depth mapper, will operate down to a depth of about 7 kilometres and at distances up to about 15 kilometres on each side of the ship – providing a swathe of the sea bottom 30 kilometres wide.
Sea floor maps are critical for understanding many of the geological processes occurring on the sea floor. For example, they can help with determining where undersea landslides – which can cause tsunamis – may occur.
The gondola also contains an instrument that can indicate the makeup of sediments in the sea floor. Sedimentation processes are critical for a whole series of geoscience capabilities. The ‘sub-bottom profiler’ emits a signal that penetrates up to about 25 metres in sand and about 100 metres in loose sediments. The return signal allows the layers of mud, sand and rock that make up the ocean floor to be displayed.
Drop keels
Another unique feature of this vessel is a couple of drop keels that contain an array of scientific instruments. The keels are about 1.3 metres wide by about 3.6 metres long – the scale of an aircraft wing – and are kept inside a tube in the ship. They can be lowered down to about 4 metres below the hull, putting the acoustic equipment inside them well below the bubble zone as the vessel goes through the water.
Seawater inlets on the keel undersides allow scientists to collect uncontaminated seawater samples.
Other instruments mounted in, or on, the keels can:
- measure the speed, direction and depth of currents – understanding current speed and direction is key to understanding the transport of heat in oceans
- indicate fish abundance and size
- detect fish schools and individual fish, giving location and depth relative to the vessel as it moves through the water
- measure the velocity of sound in water – sound velocity affects depth calculations
- measure the width and height of scientific trawl net carried behind RV Investigator – the net can be up to 4 kilometres deep and 6 kilometres long. Knowing how the size of the net mouth opening changes it moves through the water helps calculate abundance estimates for trawl catches, and improves understanding of the general behaviour of trawl nets
- provide data on the position of instruments towed by or moored to the ship, increasing the spatial accuracy and precision of measurements.
The original article can be found here http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?paper=EC12330
Uncovering the mysteries of the Indian Ocean
Posted: August 14, 2012 Filed under: Home, Marine National Facility, Media Releases, RV Southern Surveyor, The Future Research Vessel Project 2 Comments
MEDIA RELEASE ISSUED BY THE INSTITUTE FOR MARINE AND ANTARCTIC STUDIES, FRIDAY 10 AUGUST 2012.
Researchers from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania are heading to the Indian Ocean to try to understand more about how currents affect Australia’s climate and coastal waters.
IMAS Oceanographer Dr Helen Phillips is leading the team on board the Marine National Facility research vessel Southern Surveyor, which is owned and operated by CSIRO, and available to all Australian scientists.
“Surface currents bring water to the west coast of Australia all the way from Africa and feed into the Leeuwin Current, which flows south along the Western Australian coastline,” Dr Phillips said.
“We need to understand how the Indian Ocean currents influence the strength of the Leeuwin Current, and how they contribute to the nutrients available to feed commercial fisheries from Western Australia right around to Tasmania,” Dr Phillips said.
To undertake the research the team will cover 4000 nautical miles of ocean northwest of Fremantle, which is about the same distance as Melbourne to Darwin and back again!
The research team will measure the strength and size of the Indian Ocean currents at all depths, as well as the biological productivity. In addition to using instruments on board Southern Surveyor, scientists will deploy Argo floats and UTAS-funded velocity profilers, to monitor the currents long after the voyage is complete.
Collaboration between the UTAS researchers and scientists at the United States’ governmental marine research organisation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will also see a long-term mooring and 20 ocean surface drifters deployed.
The NOAA mooring is part of a global array of moored instruments designed to monitor the role of the oceans’ influence on climate. It will be deployed near 25°S to collect meteorological and oceanographic data for 12 months, and possibly further into the future.
The NOAA surface drifters are also part of a global program. They will collect and transmit data via satellite, about the circulation of the Indian Ocean and in particular the eastward flowing currents.
In 2013 Southern Surveyor will be superseded by Investigator, a new state-of-the-art 93.9-metre dedicated research vessel that will usher in a new era in marine research for Australian scientists, by more than doubling the Marine National Facilities’ ocean research capabilities.
To arrange interviews with Dr Phillips before she sails, please contact Sam East, Communications, Outreach and Marketing Manager, IMAS on or .
Having a reely good time in Norway!
Posted: August 1, 2012 Filed under: Home, Investigator, Marine National Facility Leave a commentAll the scientific winches to be installed on the new Marine National Facility vessel Investigator are being put through the ropes (ha ha), before the final tick off by our very own Lindsay Pender.
He loves winding people up!
