Challenger Society's blog

Increasingly in the field of oceanography, autonomous vehicles are being recognised and rapidly developed to allow for the collection of high-volume, high-quality data from regions of the ocean that previously data coverage has been sparse. With this however, comes the challenge of how to process such large swathes of data into something useful to data … More The Antarctic Circumpolar Current – what can Argo floats tell us?

Sitting on the plane to Oslo to spend 2 days discussing the state of our oceans and the effects of climate change, I couldn’t help but reflect on the hypocrisy of the situation – increasing my personal carbon footprint to go and brainstorm ideas on how to cut and sequester global emissions.  Over the past … More An Injection of Ocean Optimism – Sustainable Ocean Alliance Youth Leadership Summit and Our Ocean Conference 2019

In May this year myself, Prof. Maeve Lohan from the University of Southampton and Dr. Oliver Moore from the University of Leeds travelled to Diamond light source UK in Didcot. Diamond light source is the UK’s national synchrotron facility, but what is a synchrotron and what is it good for? Many people will be familiar … More Using a particle accelerator to study hydrothermal particle plumes

As crowds hit the beach this summer the newspapers heralded the arrival of the ‘Pacific death worm’. This alien nematode worm, dubbed ‘more toxic than cyanide’, could spell trouble for a family day out. So how far off the mark were the press, and should we be worried about new species visiting our coasts? What … More Alien invasions and environmental DNA

Laurel and Lucy’s behaviours are alright today. Well, thus far. It’s only 8:21 AM and there’s no predicting when their mood will plummet or when they’ll throw a tantrum. All I can do it love them and give them little pep talks or play some soothing classical music. I’ve only been working with them for … More The Exciting Unknown

In 2016, the UK Government made a declaration, in partnership with seven of its Overseas territories (UKOTs), to establish enhanced protection and management of four million square kilometres of marine ecosystems. This programme, which will run for three and a half years up until March 2020, involves: Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha British … More The UKOT Blue Belt programme

A meeting called ‘The Ocean Tide and the Port of Liverpool’ was held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum on Saturday 11 May 2019 in order to mark the 100th anniversary of the Liverpool Tidal Institute (LTI). The LTI can be claimed to be the first component of the modern UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC). In … More The Ocean Tide and the Port of Liverpool

The STEMM-CCS project has just wrapped up its latest cruise, a daring adventure blowing bubbles at the bottom of the North Sea, all in the name of Carbon Capture and Storage. The STEMM-CCS project is dedicated to developing strategies for the environmental monitoring of marine carbon capture and storage. Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) … More Blowing Bubbles

May 9th ushered in the 9th National Oceanography Centre (NOC) Association meeting, held among the crowds, statues, flags, and banners, at Central Hall in an unseasonably chilly and rainy Westminster. NOC is – currently – a part of the Natural Environment Research Council (one of the UK Research Councils, under the umbrella of UKRI), but … More The future of sustainable ocean science

If you have eaten an oyster in a seafood restaurant in the UK, it’s likely that it was a Pacific rock oyster (Crassostrea gigas), introduced to our waters from the Pacific. Pacific oysters are commonly farmed and offered on sale in the UK, as they are thought to be easier to cultivate and able to … More The Native Oyster Network – Restoring a forgotten ecosystem