Escaped scientists spotted in Tasmania!

It appears that we forgot to lock the lab and office doors again! A few of our researchers escaped and boarded the brand new Australian Marine National Facility research vessel from the CSIRO, The Investigator.

They are taking part in one of the first scientific sea trials which left from Hobart, Tasmania, last Monday. The transect is going northward criss-crossing the continental shelf. These first sets of voyages are used to check, test and optimise all of the equipment onboard, so they can be used to full capacity when the full research voyages start early next year. A few things are still getting sorted on the ship with the usual teething problems, but it seems that a lot of very good science was still being done, so we should have a good crop of seawater samples and other experiments to analyse. Our escapees also had a fantastic time watching various whales jumping around a little way off the ship. I'm sure Martin and Deepa will tell us more about their adventures when we recapture them this week! So stay tuned...

photo of the Investigator from the ship's blog