Voyage Number
IN2024_T01
Voyage Dates
Voyage Location
Chief Scientist
Prof Jo Whittaker
Institution
University of Tasmania
Voyage summary
Transit voyage from Fremantle to Hobart to relocate RV Investigator in preparation for its next research voyage IN2024_V02. During the transit, various research projects will be conducted, along with outreach, familiarisation and training activities.
The MNF seeks to maximise the benefit and use of sea time whenever the vessel is at sea. Transit voyages are commonly used for vessel maintenance activities, education and outreach activities, and staff familiarisation and training. They may also include science projects compatible with the voyage duration and track, noting that limited time is generally available during a transit for projects that require time on station.
During every voyage, underway data is collected continuously by RV Investigator from an array of distributed sensors on board.
There are 9 projects on this voyage:
- Australia’s Southern Tectonic Margin: Understanding how Australia and Antarctica broke up (Prof Jo Whittaker, University of Tasmania)
- Microplastics in the food chain: impact on the microbial and planktonic organisms (Elise Tuuri, Flinders University)
- Characterization of CTD data quality from 6000m cast (Dr Peter Strutton, University of Tasmania – not on voyage)
- Minderoo eDNA ‘OceanOmics’ Sample Collections (Dr Eric Raes and Marcelle Ayad, Minderoo Foundation)
- Atmospheric sampling – opportunistic (Dr Alain Protat, BoM – not on voyage)
- Seafloor mapping – opportunistic (Dr Martin Jutzeler, UTas – not on voyage)
- Argo SOCCOM float deployments – opportunistic (Dr Christina Schallenberg, CSIRO)
- Staff exchange and familiarisation under NOAA-Geoscience Australia-CSIRO strategic partnership (Amy Nau, CSIRO - not on voyage)
- Science outreach by ‘That’s what I call science’ media program (Olivia Dove, UTas)
The voyage has 36 science party participants from 8 institutions including 4 Australian universities, Minderoo Foundation and NOAA (USA), in addition to 20 ship crew from MMA Offshore.
COVID Protocols
To safeguard the health and well-being of participants, strict COVID protocols apply to all activities on this voyage.
Voyage documentary
This film was made by Olly Dove from the That’s What I Call Science show and assisted by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (University of Tasmania) and the CSIRO Marine National Facility.
Voyage outcomes
While the primary objective of this voyage was to reposition RV Investigator in preparation for its next research voyage, the transit provided the opportunity to deliver a multidisciplinary program of research along Australia’s Southern margin, as well as achieve several highly positive education and outreach outcomes. The primary research conducted was a geoscience project which collected seafloor rocks and bathymetry to increase our understanding of the geological nature of Australia’s southern rifted margin. Other research projects delivered included collecting data and samples to increase our understanding of the distribution of microplastic pollution around Australia and for the monitoring of biodiversity in our oceans through environmental DNA (eDNA) collection.
Understanding the formation, structure, and physical state of the Australian rifted margin, including the transition from continental to oceanic crust is important for its resource endowment and recovery, and lowers the risk to sedimentary basins and marine environments due to resource
extraction. The seafloor mapping program completed on this voyage aligns with national and international efforts to map the oceans by 2030.
The voyage enabled several valuable education, training and outreach activities to be delivered. Education of marine scientists and communication of science to the public is critical for Australia. The voyage provided the opportunity to deliver at sea training to 11 undergraduate students, providing valuable experience in a wide range of ship equipment and systems, as well as important inter-generational knowledge transfer. The voyage experience and science was widely promoted to the public through participation of an onboard science communicator from the award-winning podcast 'That’s What I Call Science'.