A group of researchers have successfully identified a new dinoflagellate species. Part of the large group of eukaryotes (approx. 1555 species), the new species has distinct morphological characteristics and was named Archaeperidinium saanichisp.nov. after Saanich Inlet, the place where, using a VENUS sediment trap, Dr. Vera Pospelova and her MSc student – Andrea Price collected samples and conducted their research that led to a publication in Marine Micropaleontology (see reference below).

It’s hardly been a case of “all play and no work” for Wally the Crawler. Researchers in Germany and Canada have been making heavy use of Wally and the unique data this deep-sea crawler gathers among the gas hydrates outcrops of Barkley Canyon. A recent paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters details their recent findings, which have implications for changes we may expect as Earth’s climate warms.

The seafloor is, arguably, one of the most extensive habitats on the planet and it is significantly understudied. It is home to a variety of benthic organisms that spend much, if not all, of their time on the bottom sliding along or ploughing through sediment. Some organisms are deposit-feeders that ingest sediments, absorb their organic content, and excrete faecal strings or pellets; other organisms are burrowers that actively mix sediments vertically. This process by which organisms mix up sediment, is known as bioturbation

An intense windstorm left thousands of Vancouver Islanders out of power and forced BC Ferries to suspend service to the mainland on the 22nd. Wind gusts exceeding 110km/h were recorded in places, as a train of intense low pressure systems struck Vancouver Island's west coast one after another. Data from Folger Deep revealed some interesting trends. At storm onset, oxygen concentrations increased significantly, probably due to mixing from wave action, and then levelled out. Water temperature also increased during the early stages of the storm. Salinity, on the other hand, dropped throughout the event.

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) are instruments used in our subsea network and other oceanographic applications to measure the currents. We collect data from two types of ADCPs, manufactured by Nortek and RDI. These ADCPs use “sound beams” to measure water movement. Sound pulses are sent out in three or four different directions from the instrument; when sound waves strike suspended objects such as tiny particles or zooplankton, some of the energy is reflected back to the ADCP where it is detected by the instrument’s transducers. The received signal intensity gives an indication of the abundance of particles within the water. The Doppler shift of the received signal for each beam is used to determine the current velocity.

During the last few years, engineering and science teams at Ifremer, France's national public institute for marine research have developedTempo-Mini: a custom-designed instrument package for real-time monitoring of hydrothermal vent communities and their environment. 

Wally the Crawler underwent the ultimate stress test on Sunday. After entering the water tethered beneath the Remotely Operated Vehicle ROPOS, strong waves apparently sprung Wally loose. He took an 870 m free dive from the sea surface to the seafloor at Barkley Hydrates.

Wally the Crawler dangles below ROPOS just prior to entering the ocean at Barkley Hydrates, 18 September 2011.

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The Folger Pinnacle instrument platform was installed on August 23, 2010 (watch the installation cruise highlights) and connected on February 2, 2011 by a combined team of Pelagic Technologies divers, the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (BMSC), and Ocean Networks Canada. Since then, a wealth of data has been gathered by instruments affixed to this 23m deep platform. However, in recent months, Dilumie Abeysirigunawardena, one of our data specialists, noticed a drop in the instruments’ data quality and sensitivity.

Our Folger Pinnacle instrument platform is now up and running after a team of divers plugged in the extension cable connecting it to Folger Passage node and the rest of the NEPTUNE Observatory last week. Glenn Hafey of Pelagic Technologies made the actual connection after he and his 4-man team dove 23m to the platform from the Bamfield Marine Science Centre’s 9.8m aluminum dive support boat, the Barkley Star.

The JOIDES Resolution research drillship, a key vessel in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), was docked in Victoria this summer for three months of refit work before heading out on two cruises in July and September

On Saturday, Feb. 27 2010, 0634UTC, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred off the coast of Chile. A tsunami advisory was issued for the BC coast. According to the USGS, "this earthquake occurred at the boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates. The two plates are converging at a rate of 70 mm per year. The earthquake occurred as thrust-faulting on the interface between the two plates, with the Nazca plate moving down and landward below the South American plate."