The OBS equipment tests at the pool were successful! Ready for sea trials

The ocean-bottom seismometers (OBS) underwent submersible testing at the EMEPC facilities.

The OBS is a seismometer that is designed to record acoustic and seismic events at the sea floor. These seismic and acoustic signals may be caused by different sources, such as earthquakes and tremors as well as by artificial sources. The deployment of three OBS’s in a triangular formation around the Cadiz Observatory, will give information about the deep structure of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle, and will complement data generated by the EGIM.

The OBS were designed and built by the IDL group at FCUL led by Luis Matias and Carlos Corela. Sea trials are scheduled for mid-April 2021.

Another successful test for the Cadiz Station profiler completed by CCMAR (member of EMSO-PT)

The second sea trials for the water column profiler were conducted on 26th October 2020 off the coast of Sesimbra aboard the IPMA Research Vessel Diplodus. The team was led by Carlos Sousa (CCMAR) assisted by Luciano Junior (CIMA-UAlg) and Zuzia Stroynowski (IPMA).

The trials were a great success. Under challenging conditions of 3 metre swells, the team were able to deploy the profiler and run four complete profiles before being successfully recovered. The water column profiler is a key component of the Cadiz Station that will provide water column data for the upper 150 metres.

The profiler is now ready to be permanently deployed in the southwest Portuguese waters in the scope of the EMSO-PT project.

First tests completed for the surface profiler

The first component of EMSO-PT’s Cadiz station was successfully tested off the coast of Olhão, Algarve. The tests were performed on one of IPMA’s vessels, the RV Diplodus, and carried out by Centro de Ciências do Mar (CCMar), which is one of the members of EMSO-PT. Paulo Relvas from CCMar and scientific investigator Carlos Sousa, were responsible for the tests carried out.

The equipment comprises of a water profiler called a “Wirewalker” that moves along the water column collecting measurements of various parameters. The profiler measures temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen turbidity and chlorophyll-A at down to 150 m water depth and is the first of its kind on the Portuguese coast. The new profiler will be installed later in the year.

Portuguese Infrastructures Roadmap published by FCT

The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) has published the new National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures of Strategic Interest (RNIE) available here.

The term “research infrastructure” refers to facilities, resources and related services that scientific communities use to develop cutting-edge research and innovation in specific fields, from social sciences to engineering and life sciences. It encompasses large-scale research installations, arrays of scientific equipment, collections, archives and databases, computational systems, communication networks for open access. These may be single-sited, distributed over several locations, cities or countries, or virtual, that is, provided electronically.

Core to any research infrastructure is its capacity to provide services to national and international scientific and educational communities, as well as to businesses and industry.

Towards this goal, a call for research infrastructures (RIs) to be included in the National Roadmap of Research Infrastructures of Strategic Relevance was launched in 2013. The FCT call mapped and assessed existing research infrastructures, identified national priority areas and brought Portugal into the group of European countries who have produced their own national roadmaps, in alignment with the European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), set up in 2002. 

Forty research infrastructures are included in the publication National Roadmap of Research Infrastructures of Strategic Relevance that integrates the EMSO-PT project: the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and Water Column Observatory (Portugal).

Acquisition of EGIM

The acquisition procedure of the EGIM – EMSO Generic Instrument Module has started. The submission of proposals ends on July 18, 2020 at 11:59pm. 

The EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM) before installation in 2016 at the OBSEA underwater observatory near the coast of Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona, Spain)

EMSO Conference – Oceans

IPMA participated in the “EMSO Conference – preparing for UN Decade of Ocean Science” in Athens, Greece, from 12 to 14 February.

The meeting brought together more than 50 representatives from various areas of the international community linked to marine science, and aimed to coordinate efforts to meet the ambitious challenge of the United Nations “2021-2030 Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development”, as well as support the European mission on “Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and Inland Waters”.

Zuzia Stroynowski, “regional team leader” of the project in Portugal (EMSO – PT), was present at the event. The coordinator of the IPMA’s research vessel division, Mafalda Carapuço presented the “OceanTech” project – a strategic research and development mobilization program. The fundamental objective of the project is to generate new technical-scientific knowledge that will harness development and construction, as well as offer new products, processes and services for the deep ocean. The aim is make these services available to the global market, relying on the research vessel (NI) Mar Portugal as the infrastructure to support the project’s operation. 

The event was organized by the “EMSO-ERIC – European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory Research Infrastructure Consortium”.