In September, we introduced you to one of the Future Research Vessel Project Team members, Dr Brian Griffiths who was profiled in ECOS Magazine http://www.ecosmagazine.com/?paper=EC12402: 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. In the article, Brian talks to ECOS about playing soccer on sea ice, and his work on the technical design team for RV Investigator.
A mystery box weighing 52,600 kg arrived on the wharf in Singapore.
Southern Surveyor headed up the west coast of Australia with CSIRO researchers, teachers and school students, to help research the problem of marine debris around Australia. The data was collected to complement surveys by CSIRO scientists around Australia’s coastline, which back then had been conducted at 100 kilometre intervals from north of Cairns and across the south coast to Perth.
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- The Smith Cloud, imaged with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF
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- Gas clouds above the surface of our Galaxy, imaged with the Parkes radio telescope. Credit: Image credit – A Ford (U. Michigan) and N. McClure-Griffiths (CSIRO)
The limited edition LEGO® Investigators made their way around Australia. Twelve were posted off to Marine Discovery Centres Australia to use as giveaways during National Science Week and beyond. In Victoria the Marine and Freshwater Discovery Centre at Queenscliff, ran a drawing competition and the winner was 6 year old Oliver Hall.
At the Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore, the HSE Department ran an evacuation drill at the Investigator Erection Area and it was considered a success. It only took five minutes to evacuate the ship, and the fire engines, ambulance and rescue vehicles all arrived in time to find everyone present and accounted for.
Later in the month, CSIRO scientists headed to the Ombai Strait and Timor Passage to collect data vital to understanding how an ocean current in the region affects Australia’s climate and weather onboard Southern Surveyor. Leading the research team was oceanographer Dr Bernadette Sloyan who is a specialist in ocean circulation with CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship.
And, Investigator was coming along very nicely!
