Gemini News

Mapping Phytoplankton with a Smart AUV

By Gemini News 2019-03-08 13:41:22

Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food chain but are notoriously difficult for scientists to account for — a little like trying to identify and count motes of dust in the air. A truly independent underwater vehicle shows it can do the job. Declining seabird numbers Trygve Olav Fossum watched an orange, torpedo-shaped instrument slide off the R/V Gunnerus and plop into the coastal waters near the island called Runde. It was June 2017 and Fossum, a PhD candidate...

Snake Robot Ready to Go On Watch in the Deep Seas

By Gemini News 2019-01-31 13:35:35

A snake robot will soon be relieving divers and mini-subs in the North Sea. But first researchers have to test its mettle in the Trondheim Fjord. The Åsgard oil and gas field off the Norwegian coast is between 240 and 310 metres deep. The oilfield is among the largest developments on the Norwegian shelf, with numerous wells and a lot of extraction equipment on the seabed. This equipment needs to be monitored and maintained, which is no simple matter. So...

Norway's Government Invests $700 Million in Ocean Research Labs

By Gemini News 2018-12-31 18:59:58

Long before oil was found in the North Sea in 1969, Norway has lived off the ocean and its resources. Now, the Norwegian government has said it is willing to allocate up to NOK 6 billion for the construction of new ocean research laboratories in Trondheim, Ålesund and on Hitra/Frøya. Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry, came to Trondheim on 7 December to announce the decision. “The maritime industry is responsible for more than 200 000...

Ocean Acidification Could Promote Toxic Algae Blooms

By Gemini News 2018-12-26 17:25:52

If carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and in the ocean continue to rise, this could fuel the mass development of toxic algae, with far-reaching consequences for the pelagic food web, an international team of researchers has found. In a two-month field experiment off the Canary Islands, an international group of scientists led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel has uncovered a possible consequence of ocean acidification that could massively affect the marine food web. The team,...

Unmanned Response Boat Disperses Spills with Water Jets

By Gemini News 2018-12-07 19:32:01

The new spill response boat Vorax disperses oil with high pressure water jets, and it was recently displayed for the environmental authorities and future customers in California. The six-meter boat looks like a racing boat, but is something completely different: it's the world's first unmanned spill response boat, and it's armed with a chemical-free dispersant in the form of seawater. The technology was developed by SINTEF and commercialized through the spinoff company Blue Impact AS. Chemical-free solution The catamaran...

Study: Seafood Ecolabels Alone Don’t Work

By Gemini News 2018-10-26 15:49:00

[By Grete Wolden] NTNU researchers wanted to see if labelling products and putting up signs in stores would encourage more consumers to buy sustainable seafood. The results showed that customers bought significantly more seafood generally – including options that were not sustainably harvested. You may have noticed a small blue and white fish logo on the packaging of fish products you buy in the store. This is the ecolabel of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which denotes wild-caught fish and seafood...

Norwegian Entrepreneurs Aim to End Ghost Fishing

By Gemini News 2018-10-12 17:32:07

A small device, developed in Norway, will now be used in the battle against environmentally-unfriendly ghost fishing caused by lost or forgotten fishing gear. Fishing nets have long lifetimes and can cause major damage to marine life if they are abandoned at sea. There are examples of lost nets that have continued to trap fish for periods of up to 30 years. Ghost fishing by lost or forgotten pots kills thousands of lobsters and crabs every year. However, it was...

Report: Geoengineering Won't Achieve Paris Accord's Goals

By Gemini News 2018-10-05 13:33:24

[By Steinar Brandslet] The countries of the world still need to cut their carbon dioxide emissions to reach the Paris Agreement’s climate targets. Relying on tree planting and alternative technological solutions such as geoengineering will not make enough of a difference. “We can’t rely on geoengineering to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” says Helene Muri, a researcher from NTNU’s Industrial Ecology Programme. She was also one of the lead authors of a recent article in Nature Communications that looked at...

Using New Technology to Find Shipwrecks

By Gemini News 2018-09-07 12:55:27

[By Idun Haugan] An estimated three million shipwrecks lie in seabed graveyards around the world – with as many as 1000 of them around Svalbard. Each of them has their own unique story — one that’s made much more accessible with new technology. Throughout the centuries ships have weathered wars, storms, icebergs, and pirates, to name a few. Many ships have been lost in the face of these forces and gone down with all hands. They lie on the bottom...

Wings at the Bow Could Smooth Passenger Ship's Ride

By Gemini News 2018-08-31 19:25:49

For more than 150 years it has been known that placing a wing - or a foil - may be favorable at the bow of a ship. It both reduces the ship's energy consumption and provides increased comfort for passengers on board, but no one has managed to exploit this knowledge in real life. Until now. In 2021, the shipping company Havila will launch a route between Bergen and Kirkenes, and will build four new environmentally friendly ships for the stretch. This opportunity...