In this section:
Oceanography
The program conducts oceanographic research to provide scientific and technical advice to other researchers, government and industry. Jointly, the areas of physical and biological oceanography “contain” the marine environment through outcomes that describe the transport and dispersal of sediments, heat, pathogens, pollutants, nutrients and marine biota. These factors can influence and control the fundamental ecosystems involving viruses, bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton that support and under-pin the function of marine ecosystems and ultimately fish stocks and fisheries sustainability.
A Hydrodynamic/Biogeochemical Facility
Following world’s best practice, we are developing this facility for Australia’s southern shelves and gulfs that will enable us to quantify the link between ocean circulation and the space-time dynamics of the plankton ecosystem for shelf and gulf systems. In addition, the facility will allow for the prediction of the transport of sediments and their interaction with marine life and impact on coastal morphology. This facility will also enable service provision to areas including aquaculture, prawn and lobster larval dispersion and recruitment, virus spread, impacts of desalination plants, sewage outfalls and sediment/sand transport.
Click here to download Oceanography science program capability statement (.pdf).
The Southern Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (SAIMOS)
- Download the SAIMOS Insights video (.mp4 78MB)
- Watch the SAIMOS Insights DVD (Flash 24MB)
In collaboration with Flinders University, shelf data streams for the facility are being collected by the Oceanography Program through implementation of the $9M Southern Australian Integrated Marine Observing System. This observing system is made up of shelf moorings, ship-based surveys, ocean gliders (Seaglider, Slocum Glider), autonomous underwater vehicles and HF Ocean RADAR. The observing equipment has been deployed in the region of Kangaroo Is and Eyre Peninsula where significant upwelling of nutrients occurs. These nutrients provide food for the phyto/zooplankton ecosystems that underpin the fisheries and marine life of the region and gulfs. In collaboration with Victorian agencies, an additional component of SAIMOS is planned for the Bonney Coast.
Associate Professor John Middleton leads the Program and has published more than 50 papers and reports and is an executive member of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans. He was also appointed to membership of the Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research, Working Group 129 on Deep Ocean Exchange with the Shelf. Professor Middleton has an international reputation for high-quality oceanographic research into shelf and coastal ocean circulation systems. He has published extensively on hydrodynamic modelling of Australia’s southern shelves.
Professor Laurent Seuront leads the Biological Oceanography subprogram and has published more than 115 scientific papers, a sole-authored monograph and given more than 50 invited seminars throughout the world (including the prestigious Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). He is an expert in the numerical and observational analysis of the space-time structure and function in marine ecosystems with specific focus on biophysical couplings. In 2007, he was named the outstanding French scientist under 40 years old by the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
The Oceanography Program also includes Drs Mark Doubell, Charles James, John Luick and Sophie Leterme, Louise Renfrey, Carlos Teixeira, Laura Richardson, Leeying Wu, Shaun Byrnes and emeritus A/Professor John Bye.
Contact
Louise Renfrey
SAIMOS/Oceanography Executive Officer
Tel: 08 8207 5370 Fax: 08 8207 5481
E-mail: louise.renfrey@sa.gov.au.nospam
