Martin Ostrowski, one of the ARC post-doctoral fellows in our group is trading his white lab coat for a hat, safety boots and a lot of sunscreen. He is taking part in a research voyage that will study the lifestyles of marine microbes in the Arafura Sea and along the Great Barrier Reef on the Research Vessel Southern Surveyor. The voyage will consist of 8 days transit from Darwin to Cairns and includes scientists from Macquarie Uni, UTS and UNSW. The science team will collect seawater samples to study microbial communities and gain a better understanding of their contribution to important processes, such as photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in our surrounding seas.
Hopefully the weather will be clement and the swell will not turn our brave sailors into green tomatoes. Keep looking for some updates along the way (as long as the camera does not fall overboard on a particularly large wave!).
"The RV Southern Surveyor is a national facility available to marine scientists to explore and study Australia's oceans. It is owned and managed by CSIRO, and its operations are funded by the Australian Government to enable oceanographic, geo-science, fisheries and ecosystem research." [
http://www.marine.csiro.au/nationalfacility/features/vessel.htm]
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| The RV Southern Surveyor ready to leave at Darwin's docks |
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