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Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Professors Anya Waite (UWA) and Tom Trull (UTas) are running a 2-week student training voyage in biological and geochemical oceanography on the Australian Marine National Facility, the RV Southern Surveyor. Sponsored by ANNiMS, the Australian National Network in Marine Science, fourteen postgraduate and honours students across Australia have been selected through a national competition to join Waite and Trull at sea for some hands-on training as they track the length of the longest ocean  feature in Australia, the Leeuwin Current.  On a voyage tracking west and north from Hobart to Broome, Students will be introduced to the fundamentals of ship-board oceanographic sampling, including both the science of oceanography, and the operational aspects of being at sea and deploying sampling gear. They will investigate the diversity of plant plankton and animal plankton, analyze chlorophyll samples, measure carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in surface waters, and collect samples for nutrient analyses. Participants are likely to have the opportunity of using some exciting gear on board such as the flow cytometer (laser particle counter) and possibly a CPR (continuous plankton recorder), as well as state of the art nutrient analysers. In the process, they will execute one of the first research voyages tracking the whole length of the Leeuwin Current.

The 1 st of two legs of the ANNiMS scientific voyage leaves Hobart on Monday 29 th March at 18:00.
The 2nd leg leaves Fremantle on April 7th arriving in Broome on April 13.


Participants on both legs will be sending information and hopefully photos on the ANNiMS scientific voyage blog site, which can be accessed from the link on the home page
of the ANNiMS website, https://www.marine-science-network.edu.au

Follow the progress of the two legs, as the participants embark upon this exciting scientific adventure aboard the Southern Surveyor.

To follow the students on their voyage go to https://blogs.utas.edu.au/annims/ and read their daily blog

Media references



Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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Teaching and Learning
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Oceans Institute