Hooded Seals get SatNav, too

Southern Elephant seals have been known for a while to be perfect "vessels of opportunity" for oceanographic as well as biological research. More recently, narwhals were also discovered as suitable carriers of oceanographic data loggers, which communicate their collected data through the ARGOS satellite system, and were aptly titled oceanographic unicorns.

Now hooded seals join the club, as they now also get to carry loggers and sat transponders on their heads:



According to the researchers in charge, these SRDLs (Satellite-Relay Data Loggers) weigh about 400 g, and have negligible impact on the seals. They represent a maximum of 2% of the body weight of the animal carrying them, which range in size from 30 kg – 1.5 tonnes.

Historical whaling tools retrieved and dated

As I blogged already last autumn, some whaling tools recently retrieved from bowhead whales witness both historical hunting techniques and the amazing life spans of these whales. Now an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here:

"The age of bowhead whales captured by Native Alaskan hunters in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas has been estimated via chemical analyses of the eye lenses, and other techniques. The racemization-age estimates indicate that bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a lifespan of more than a century. Stone and ivory weapon fragments recovered from bowhead whales hunted in Wainwright and Barrow (Alaska) in 1981, 1992, 1993 and 1997, provided rough but independent assessments of the whales’ longevity; however, their date of manufacture was unknown. Adding further confirmation of these age estimates, this note describes bomb lance fragments recovered recently (2007) and about 30 years ago (1980) from bowhead whales harvested by Eskimo hunters that were “dateable” and likely manufactured between 1879 and 1885. (Source: Polar Biology's website).

Polar Bear Knut - the sibling sequel (cont.)

In November I predicted a sequel to the marketing success story of Polar Bear ""Knut" - here it is: Polar Bear "Flocke" of the Nuremberg Zoo!

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- A fluffy white polar bear cub that has captured German hearts is making her first public appearance Tuesday at the Nuremberg City Zoo.

Flocke (FLOCK-uh), whose name means "snowflake" in German, was born at the zoo in December. She gained international attention in January after zookeepers said they had taken Flocke away from her mother because of concerns she would eat her.

The zoo's other female polar bear had recently eaten her two offspring, and the zoo was concerned that Flocke's mother would do the same.

Zookeepers bottle-fed Flocke and kept her warm with blankets and heatlamps.

Sweet pictures of the young bear being cuddled by her keepers or sleeping with her tongue sticking out boosted Flocke's popularity, and she quickly eclipsed Knut (knoot), the polar bear at the Berlin Zoo.

Knut was a sensation when he was born in December 2006, but at 16 months old he's no longer considered as cute as his Nuremberg counterpart.

Flocke has grown into a bouncy young cub who is learning how to use her large paws. The zoo's latest pictures of Flocke, from early last week, show her frolicking in her enclosure and paddling in a pool of shallow water.

The first chance to see Flocke up close is Tuesday, when the zoo is holding a media event with about 50 members of the public. Starting Wednesday, people visiting the zoo will be able to see Flocke in her enclosure from 9-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. daily -- "if Flocke plays along" and decides to step outside, the zoo said.

Polar Bear Knut - the sibling sequel?

Knut, the Berlin Zoo's well-known polar bear, may soon have as many as three little siblings before Christmas, the zoo's veterinarian said Friday.

Knut's mother, Tosca, and the zoo's two other female polar bears, Katjuscha and Nancy, may all be pregnant after mating earlier this year with Knut's father, Lars, and could give birth before the end of December, according to veterinarian Andre Schuele.

But polar bear pregnancies are hard to detect and to track. Tests like those humans use do not work, and polar bear embryos are so small the mothers do not grow big tummies.

The zoo is hopeful enough, however, to have built three special caves for the female polar bears to use to give birth.

Is funding of polar bear research by Exxon questionable?

In a world where scientists and university officials are discussing "profitability" of their departments, technology transfers and industry cooperations, industry-funded research has increasingly been subject of ethical debates. Now it even seems to have sparked a political debate as well. The US House Committee on Science and Technology is currently investigating ExxonMobil's motives for funding research by an astrophysicist into the impact of climate change on the polar bear population of western Hudson Bay in Canada.

Now anyone familiar with the matter at hand will pause for a moment and raise an eyebrow over the fact that Exxon has chosen an astrophysicist to study the potential fate of a polar marine mammal population, but we will let that one pass for now.

These Exxon-paid researchers, including Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, published their findings as a "viewpoint", which is not peer-reviewed. They conclude that the polar bears are not threatened by climate change (link).

Here is an excerpt of their abstract:

"We found that spring air temperatures around the Hudson Bay basin for the past 70 years (1932–2002) show no significant warming trend and are more likely identified with the large-amplitude, natural climatic variability that is characteristic of the Arctic. Any role of external forcing by anthropogenic greenhouse gases remains difficult to identify. We argue, therefore, that the extrapolation of polar bear disappearance is highly premature. Climate models are simply not skilful for the projection of regional sea-ice changes in Hudson Bay or the whole Arctic."

Now two things about that publication raise some more eyebrows: first of all, it is published as a "viewpoint" and thereby excempt from the usual procedure of peer review. It is noting "no significant warming trend...around Hudson Bay", a finding that stands in stark contrast to other studies published in peer-reviewed journals, p.e.

• Comiso, J. C. 2002a. Correlation and trend studies of the sea-ice cover and surface temperatures in the Arctic. Ann. Glaciol, 34:420-428. (link)

• Comiso, J. C. 2002b. A rapidly declining perennial sea ice cover in the Arctic. Geophys. Res. Lett. 29:1956 (link)

• Comiso, J. C. 2003. Warming trends in the Arctic from clear-sky satellite observations. J. Clim, 16:3498-3510. (link)

Also, the abstract ends with the following statement:

"Both scientific papers and public discussion that continue to fail to recognize the inherent complexity in the adaptive interaction of polar bears with both human and nature will not likely offer any useful, science-based, preservation and management strategies for the species."

This sounds more like a political statement (read: scientists have an agenda, and so do the media) than the conclusions of a scientific study that - especially in peere-reviewed publications - would try to be as concise and focussed on the data as possible, while avoiding opining and bold statements at all costs.

"It's hard to see this article as rigorous, sound science," writes chair Brad Miller (D) of the subcommittee on investigations and oversight in an open letter to the oil giant.

Bowhead Whale contained 1890's projectile

Another news item that I missed while at sea (from msnbc.com):

"A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago.

Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.



The whale had a bomb lance fragment lodged a bone between its neck and shoulder blade. The fragment was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time, Bockstoce said.

It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The small metal cylinder was filled with explosives fitted with a time-delay fuse so it would explode seconds after it was shot into the whale. The bomb lance was meant to kill the whale immediately and prevent it from escaping.



“It probably hurt the whale, or annoyed him, but it hit him in a non-lethal place,” he said. “He couldn’t have been that bothered if he lived for another 100 years.”

The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month, and the older device was found buried beneath its blubber as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.

UPDATE: an arcticle of the scientific journal "Polar Biology" has now appeared with detailed information on the dating of these harpoon and lance fragments. See the article online here.

Polar Operations Guide for AUV's online

Here comes another tidbit that floated into my newsfilter while I was at sea:

Here is a website that is result of a conference on AUV's. This acronym stands for "Autonomous Underwater Vehicle", the "untethered" version of a ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle, in both cases an underwater robot used in scientific, commercial as well as military missions).




Since the participants of that conference workshop wisely decided that their subject, best practices for AUV operations in polar areas, is still a budding field of expertise, they decided to turn it into a web-based project where users can contribute and participate in the accumulation of such expertise.

A must for "underwater exploration gear" freaks like me...

DNA detective work unveils Korean "bycatch whaling"

Another news bite from New Scientist (by Peter Aldhous):

"DNA detective work has revealed that fishermen in South Korea are snaring far more whales in their nets than they admit. The "bycatch" is so large that some observers believe whales are being netted deliberately, breaking the moratorium on commercial whaling set by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Whale meat can be sold legally in South Korea if the animals are caught by accident in fishing nets, but such deaths must be reported to the government. Between 1999 and 2003, fishermen reported snaring 458 minke whales. Now a team led by Scott Baker of Oregon State University in Newport says the true catch was nearly twice that number and threatens the survival of minke whales in the Sea of Japan.

Baker had South Korean colleagues buy minke meat from local markets and used DNA fingerprinting to determine how many individual whales the meat had come from. That alone did not reveal the total number of whales caught; the researchers calculated that figure by borrowing a technique called "mark and recapture". Ecologists estimate the size of an animal population by trapping, marking and releasing animals, and then seeing how many marked and unmarked animals turn up in subsequent trapping efforts. Using the DNA signatures of individual whales as markers, successive surveys revealed population data for the dead whales whose meat was being sold in the Korean markets.

With the aid of a mathematical model developed by Justin Cooke of the Center for Ecosystem Management Studies in Gutach, Germany, Baker's team estimated that South Korean fishermen caught 827 minke between 1999 and 2003 (Molecular Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03317.x). "This is a very exciting study because it finally provides a tool to establish the magnitude of the bycatch problem," says Phil Clapham of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

"We suspect this is really a form of unregulated commercial whaling," says Baker. Given that a single minke whale can fetch up to $100,000, there is a strong financial incentive for fishermen to entangle whales in their nets.

Baker's team was also able to show that the average "half-life" of meat from an individual whale in South Korean markets is 1.82 months, suggesting that surveys to monitor for illegal meat should be conducted about every two months. Baker's project was backed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and Greenpeace International.

The South Korean government has shown little enthusiasm for launching a monitoring programme of its own. Japan, meanwhile, has rebuffed attempts to discuss meat surveys at previous IWC meetings. The IWC meets later this month in Anchorage, Alaska.

Minke whales in the Sea of Japan are the subject of an ongoing IWC review. "This population is clearly in trouble," says Clapham, who is a member of the US delegation to the IWC. "It is being hit from Japan and Korea by bycatch, and probably by deliberate take."

From issue 2603 of New Scientist magazine, 10 May 2007, page 10

Fly your ROV as smoothly as a fish

I found this article on "electro-receptive navigation" while gathering data for a presentation on "animal navigation". But as it turns out, technology is yet again trying to mimick natural adaptations, as the following article shows:

"Robotic and uncrewed submersibles could operate more effectively by mimicking the way some fish probe their surroundings with electric fields, say researchers.

Many marine and freshwater fish can sense electric fields, but some also generate their own weak fields over short ranges to help navigate, identify objects, and even communicate with other fish.

"Currently, no vehicle is manoeuvrable enough to do work in tight quarters, such as coral reef monitoring, underwater structural inspection, or searching a submerged vessel," MacIver told New Scientist. "To do so requires not only a high amount of agility, but also being able to sense in all directions, so that you do not collide with nearby obstacles. Electro-location is perfect for this."

The researcher's electro-location system consists of two field-emitting electrodes and two voltage-sensing electrodes. These electrode pairs are arranged at opposite corners of a diamond, and were submerged in shallow water for testing purposes.

If the electric field is not disturbed by anything in the water, the two pairs of sensor electrodes should provide identical readings. But if something is placed within a few centimetres of the sensors, the field is disturbed and causes a variance in the sensor readings.

Since the position of the object affects the way the electric field is disturbed, a computer can use a series of sensor readings to determine the object's location. It is even possible to detect small objects by amplifying subtle perturbations in the field.

MacIver believes compact, agile submersibles could one day be covered in many electro-sensors - although he notes that weakly electric fish use many thousands. So the next step, he believes, is to develop an array of sensor electrodes and attempt more complicated tests.

Steve McPhail, who designs autonomous underwater vehicles at the UK's National Oceanographic Centre, part of the University of Southampton, also sees potential in the idea. "It sounds like this would be useful for small, agile subs operating close to the seabed or in tight spaces," he says. "An obvious advantage is that the sensors are quite cheap."

MacIver admits that it will be a long while before electric field sensors are anywhere near as sophisticated as those found in nature. "It has taken the machine vision community many years to 'teach' computers how to perceive simple objects using light," he notes. "We are just starting the process of understanding how to perceive simple objects using 'electro-sense'."

(Source: NewScientist.com)

I just wish they already had these sensors in place, since my dream of an "under-ice ROV" would also need this tight-quarter manoeuvrablility...

Trafficking Sperm Whale Teeth

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The former director of a whaling museum and an antiques dealer pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally importing hundreds of sperm whale teeth from England and selling them to U.S. merchants.

Lewis Eisenberg, 60, the former director of The Whalers Village Museum in Lahaina, Hawaii, bought many of the teeth and resold them to collectors of scrimshaw, an art form in which designs are etched into whale bone. Eisenberg, of Oak Harbor, Wash., sold teeth he got from antiques trader Martin Schneider for more than $45,000.

Schneider, 59, of Blue Bell, Pa., got the teeth of the endangered whale in Britain and smuggled them into the country by hiding them among other goods he was importing. Prosecutors said he sold a total of $500,000 worth of teeth from 1995 to 2005.

Both pleaded guilty to violations of the Endangered Species Act, the Mammal Protection Act and the Lacey Act, which forbids the import or export of wildlife that is illegally transported or sold.

For the full story, visit the Daily Freeman

X-Ray Dive Mag #16

X-Ray, the free online dive mag, has recently published issue 16, including several favourite topics of mine:



• Reactive Oxygen Species (hey, that's one of my research topics!)

• newly discovered species under Antarctic Ice (hey, that's another of my research topics... ;-)

• Rebreather trim with Cedric Verdier (hey, my favourite RB author on my favourite RB subject!)

So, if you are similarly minded, or just want to figure out what a free online dive magazine actually looks like, check it out.

Actually, clicking on any of the headlines above will take you directly to the relevant section download (2-4 MB each) so you will not have to handle the entire file (16MB).

Also, you might remember the blog Divester by Willy Volk. Guess where he is hanging out now: yep, at X-Ray Mag's blog.

Watch out for the Walrus Webcam!

Norwegian and international researchers of the Norwegian Polar Institute have been studying walrus and other seals at their haul-out sites for many years, typically using ice-going research vessels, zodiacs, and aircraft as their means of transport and observation platforms.

Now that they have been re-visiting the most populated walrus haul-out sites for years, they decided to deploy more advanced and at the same time more efficient recording methods in their seasonal studies: webcams.



In recent years, the use of GSM- or iridium based webcams and automatic weather stations has been spreading and by now, researchers of the University Center on Svalbard are able to view online weather data as well as webcam footage of their field station in Rijpfjorden on the north coast of Northeast Land. This is vital, especially for the evaluation of flight and landing conditions for helicopters.

At least they had been able to, until their weather and camera mast blew down... ;-(



So the walrus researchers were eager to employ that same technology to keep track of walrus beaches, with iridium-uplinked webcams on four or five remote but well-established walrus haul-out sites. Here is a link to their project proposal.



Well-established among walrus, but also among walrus-watchers, which typically come there as individual expeditioners or as tourists aboard an expedition cruise.

So the walrus researchers thought that this might be a great bonus for their proposal: let's monitor walrus online, and if tourists step into the picture, let's monitor them as well!

In a rather amusing development of this story, this prompted the local newspaper, notorious for its mix of small-town news ("who is currently on the day-care waiting list?") and self-absorbed leaders about everything from Global Change to Norwegian-Russian diplomacy since the Cold War, to launch a fierce counter-attack article as well as an online poll titled "Do you mind being watched by the Polar Institute when you are out on field trips?"

Not surprisingly, the poll currently favors the protesters (62%) against those who do not mind appearing in a webcam image (35%). The total number of voters so far: 399 ;-)

If you are interested, join the Svalbard Pages Forum for a discussion of this topic.

The oceanographic unicorn

About a year ago I blogged about elephant seals which had been turned into "oceanographic vessels of opportunity" - researchers interested in the South Atlantic circulation were taking advantage of elephant seals' impressive range and diving behaviour by attaching oceanographic sensors to their heads.

Now their Arctic colleagues follow this approach by attaching similar sensor systems to narwhals, a small Arctic tooth whale species mostly known for their long tusks, which had in earlier times inspired unicorn myths.

"We've converted these animals into oceanographers," says Kristin Laidre of the Polar Science Center at the University of Washington.



The whales, which dive up to one mile deep to feed on bottom fish, already have provided the first winter temperature measurements in Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland.



The region is part of the global "conveyor belt" of currents that brings warmer waters north, moderating the weather in northern Europe. An international science panel recently predicted global warming will slow those currents.

"Any weakening of the Gulf Stream because of climate change will immediately show up in this area," says Laidre's collaborator, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.



Global climate models have basically been "faking it" when it comes to the ocean west of Greenland, said Michael Steele, a senior oceanographer at the Polar Science Center.

"There's just a huge data hole in this part of the world ocean in the winter," he said.

More about the narwhal project here on the NOAA pages.

Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)

You are looking at it's newest member ;-)

From their website:

"The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists aims to bring together young researchers and early career scientists with an interest in Polar Regions from around the world. Polar research is inherently interdisciplinary and international. Many early career scientists, although sometimes well connected within their own specialization, often do not have strong contacts with other polar experts. This network will provide a forum for polar scientists to begin international and interdisciplinary collaborations early in their careers, fostering international science which is naturally important to polar research to improve our understanding of these systems on a global level.

Who are we?

This group represents a people with a wide range of scientific expertise and interests including glaciology, geology, permafrost, atmospheric science, oceanography, polar biology, space studies, biogeochemistry and paleontology and other fields. We also encourage participation from researchers and professionals interested in the social, historical, economic, and political aspects relevant to Polar Regions , as well as polar education and outreach. The International Polar Year 2007-9 is the perfect opportunity to establish such a network and ensure a strong legacy and continuation of international and interdisciplinary polar science for decades to come.

Who can join?

This interactive online network is accessible to anyone interested in polar research, from undergraduates through to senior scientists. The active membership, however, is restricted to researchers who are actively involved with Polar Regions and early career professionals with a polar interest. Register to the network here."

Ice Diving in the White Sea

If you are serious about ice diving, you should consider the "Arctic Circle Diving Center" of RuDive, a major Russian dive operator, which also operates the Barents Sea live-aboard "Kartesh".

The company was founded by members and graduates of Moscow State University (MSU) and has a strong focus on marine biology as well as safe and responsible diving.

Here is a link to their site.

Deep Sea - full of surprises

Sometimes I regret that I have taken up such a "shallow" topic as the sea-ice ecosystem. Partly, the reason was that I would get to go there myself, both to the ice-covered seas and - as scuba-diver - to the underside of the ice. However, as exciting and challening as under-ice scuba diving (open-ciruit or rebreather) might be, I usually only go down to a few meters depth there (max. approx. 15 m beneath the surface, on some deep ice keels) although water depths may range in >2000 or even >3000 m range in the polar basins.

So when I read about the seemingly never-ending discoveries, exciting possibilities and strange creatures found in the deep ocean, I always get immensely jealous. I should have dropped the "Jacques Cousteau Act" years ago and become a "serious" a.k.a. Deep Sea marine biologist!
____________________

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Peering deep into the sea, scientists are finding creatures more mysterious than many could have imagined. At one site, nearly 2 miles deep in the Atlantic, shrimp were living around a vent that was releasing water heated to 765 degrees Fahrenheit. Water surrounding the site was a chilly 36 degrees.

An underwater peak in the Coral Sea was home to a type of shrimp thought to have gone extinct 50 million years ago.

More than 3 miles beneath the Sargasso Sea, in the Atlantic, researchers collected a dozen new species eating each other or living on organic material that drifts down from above.

"Animals seem to have found a way to make a living just about everywhere," said Jesse Ausubel of the Sloan Foundation, discussing the findings of year six of the census of marine life.

Added Ron O'Dor, a senior scientist with the census: "We can't find anyplace where we can't find anything new."

For complete report, go here.

Iceland to resume commercial whaling

BREAKING NEWS: Iceland resumed commercial whale hunting this Tuesday (AP)

Fisheries Minister Einar Kristinn Gudfinnsson told Iceland's parliament that Iceland's Ministry of Fisheries will begin granting licenses and permitting the hunting of nine fin whales and 30 minke whales before the end of August 2007. Licenses could be issued as early as today, and commercial hunting could officially begin this week.

Iceland, a country steeped in whaling tradition, originally complied with the International Whaling Commission (IWC) ban set in the 1980s, but has been hunting whales in the name of scientific research since 2003, in what environmental groups have considered an unfortunate loophole to the worldwide ban. Iceland also counts itself among a group of nations, including Japan and Norway, which passed an agreement to support the ending of the ban at this year's meeting of the IWC in June.

The resumption of whaling "is part of our main principle of sustainable use of all living marine resources," Asta Einarsdottir, a lawyer for the Ministry of Fisheries, told the AP. Einarsdottir also told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) that whale meat caught for research purposes is finding a growing home market in Iceland.

"None of the planned catches involve any endangered or threatened stocks of whales. They only involve abundant stocks," reads a statement by the Ministry of Fisheries, obtained by the AFP. Environmental group Greenpeace vehemently denounces such claims, announcing in a press release that, "Claims that the hunt is sustainable cannot be credible, since nine of the 39 whales that are to be targeted are endangered fin whales."

Economically speaking, Greenpeace believes that Iceland's decision to grant commercial licenses to hunt whales makes no sense.

"Iceland makes more money with whale-watching than whale-eating," noted Sack, who said that Greenpeace's response is to urge Iceland to capitalize on whale-watching and studying whales rather than commercial whaling.

In response to Iceland's announcement, Greenpeace is calling for all licenses to be revoked and is seeking support through an Iceland "Whale Tourism Pledge." Nearly 70,000 people have signed the pledge, which will go live later this week at www.greenpeace.org, promising to visit Iceland if the government stops whaling.

For full story, go to Iceland News or Associated Press News.

For Greenpeace's statement on the story, got here.

Was marrying Cindy a smart move?

New research by Paul Manger of Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand reveales that despite the large brains found in dolphins, size does not indicate intelligence.

Instead, their large brain size is the result of a warm-blooded animal living in a cold-water environment. Hi study argues that much of dolphins’ reputation as being exceptionally wise derives from unquestioned assumptions that intelligence correlates with brain size.

However, Manger finds that finds that cetacean brains have an unusually high number of glial cells, which provide insulation for brain functioning and account for a large amount of the brain’s mass.

As Outside Online puts it:

"Manger’s study is likely to provoke defenses of dolphin speech and intelligence, but Flipper’s crime-fighting reputation may never recover."

So, finally, scientific proof that marrying a dolphin is not a smart move!

Cindy the Dolphin - DEAD!

In January, the news story of "woman marries dolphin" made some - rather odd - headlines. As the story goes, an English woman named Sharon Tendler, 41, of London, married a dolpin named Cindy, 35, of Eilat. Sadly, recently "Cindy the Dolphin" died and guess what - was buried at sea.

They even had a pre-nup, allowing Cindy to "play with all the other girls" in the ocean. "I hope he has a lot of baby dolphins with the other dolphins. The more dolphins the better," she said. In fact Cindy -- the only male dolphin at the dolphinarium -- sired offspring with several of the local females...

C'mon, what do you expect: THEY HAD A PRE-NUP!

first impressions from Stavanger

Here are some first phonecam snaps and impressions from Stavanger where I spent a few weeks recently to study the stress level (really!) in small critters living under the ice (click this link to a previous post if you want to know how they look like). It turned out my stress level was a lot higher than theirs, but then I could not blame them. They had been stored on liquid nitrogen first and later at about -80°C so they were pretty cool about the whole procedure *cheesy sitcom laugh* while I was working up a sweat jumping around between the different analysers, homogenisers, autosamplers, microplate readers, multipipette robots etc.

I first thought of showing some pics of these wonders of scientific high-tech but decided against it for now. (I first have to figure out how I can in uplink some mpeg movies that I shot of the robot systems in action).

Instead, here is a view from our lab's window on an oil rig dismantling unit.



Moored to it for some time was SAIPEM 7000, apparently the world's biggest, largest, heaviest-lifting floating crane rig, sporting twin cranes capable of 7000 tons each (hence the lyrical name) as well as a number of smaller "feeder" cranes to shuffle smaller things around on deck. It moved in and out of the fjord at astonishing speed (I guess some 6-8 knots) and "swerved" sharply to lay to the pier without any tug assistance, which makes sense if you have to move in close to large offshore constructions to take them down. And then it started to unload parts of a platform it had been taking apart some place out in the oil fields onto the large pier in front of the lab. Like a giant "grown-up boy's dream toy" come true!

Here is another shot:



If you piched your eyes, you could see small ant-like creatures crawling around on it, the deck crew. The cranes swung around more or less simultaneously to avoid too much veering on the deck, since they were "riding high" i.e. had not flooded the huge tanks in their legs as they would do once they were stationary and anchored "in the fields". With empty tanks the rig has a lot more freeboard i.e. a lot less bulk to push through the water when "sailing".

So even though Stavanger really is just a sleepy little town loosely strewn over a few islands and along the fjord and sounds, which reportedly have some of the oldest (known) human settlements of Scandinavia, it also happened to be situated closest to the largest (known) oil reserves of western Europe.

And by the way: parts of that pier the SAIPEM 7000 was moored to originate from the BRENT SPAR (ring a bell?), i.e. its concrete legs were modified into a pier extension while the metal superstructure was cut into scrap iron on the flat expanse between the lab and the fjord. I would love to dig up pictures of the thing, apparently the rig was tugged around in "Byfjorden" for some time while the authorities were still contemplating to sink it some place convenient to avoid the costly deconstruction.