News

The MAREANO programme plans to conduct bathymetric mapping in Norskerenna in the North Sea. An invitation to tender for bathymetric mapping in 2023 is published. 

Before surveying the area, scientists expected to find large areas of untouched seabed – and the odd trawl mark left by fishing boats. What they actually found was nothing like that.

The activities of the MAREANO mapping programme were recently presented at a conference in the Brazilian city of Salvador. As part of developing a new, modern programme for marine spatial management, experts in Brazil want to learn from international actors.

Expedition diary: After a few days of extensive exploration of the muddy, sandy plains at our sampling area outside of Utsira, we arrived at a station with exposed rock.

Expedition diary: We have been out here for a few days now and it is clear: we are deep in seapen country!

Expedition diary: As we arrive in the north with RV Kronprins Haakon, we are greeted by a brand new white world of icebergs and sea ice. At a first glance this polar desert appears void of life, however, when we take a closer look we find the opposite to be true. We are surrounded by living creatures – both above and below the sea.

Expedition diary: And now for something completely different. Standard MAREANO sampling cruises collect biology, geology and chemistry data using video and physical sampling. This cruise is dedicated to exploring new methods, specifically, what MAREANO could gain from the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

In May, the Clinton Marine Survey AB began the bathymetric mapping in parts of the North Sea for the MAREANO programme. Until the beginning of August they will survey 2730 km².

The MAREANO programme plans to conduct bathymetric mapping in the North Sea this year. An invitation to tender for bathymetric mapping is published. 

Expedition diary: It is 18:25 on Sunday evening, and where we are, the sea is almost 500 metres deep. Our video rig hovers lazily over the sea floor. It is completing the final metres of a total of 33.4 kilometres of video transects on the Spitsbergen Bank, before G.O. Sars can set sail for Tromsø.

Cruise diary: When we arrived at Spitsbergenbanken a few days ago, we were met by strong currents. On the seafloor, the currents shape sediments into different types of bedforms, with the most common being ripples, which are centimetres to decimetres high, but also larger bedforms such as sandwaves, or sandbanks which can be more than 10 m high.

Expedition diary: After two weeks at sea, we have seen how benthic communities change with the seabed substrate and bottom-water temperature, from east to west on the Spitsbergen Bank. From the relatively deep mudflats in the south-east, to the rocky slopes in the north and further west towards Bear Island, we have observed large quantities of dead bivalve shells and shell fragments, as well as some high-Arctic benthic fauna. We are in the borderlands of the polar front.

Cruise diary: On the last Mareano cruise of the year to Spitsebergenbanken, we had strong winds and 4-5 m high waves south of Hopen. With the video rig parked on the seafloor at 150 m depth, we could observe how suspended sediments and animals living on the seafloor drifted back and forth in the same wave motion as the research vessel G.O. Sars. This shows that waves, in which we commonly think only occur on the sea surface, may also affect the seafloor at large depths.

Expedition diary: The Mareano expedition has reached Kirkegården (“the churchyard”), south-east of Svalbard and Spitsbergen Bank. We lower a large camera rig to the sea floor to have a look. Mud and sand are whirled up when we land, and initially we cannot see a thing. At first sight the sea bottom at Kirkegården appears to be a desert, but in spite of its sinister name, this churchyard is full of life! Here you will meet some of its many residents. 

Cruise diary: MAREANO continues its mapping of Spitsbergenbanken and takes a closer look on some of the landforms made when the bank was covered by a thick glacier.

Expedition diary: After sailing for 33 hours from Tromsø, we are approaching Spitsbergen Bank, which is well-known as a highly productive sea area between Bear Island and Hopen. We will also be surveying an area called Kirkegården (“the churchyard”), although no-one on board is sure how it got that name. 

This report gives an overview of conducted mapping surveys and programme results/deliverables of the MAREANO programme in 2020. A summary in English is included, the rest of the report is in Norwegian.

Researchers on a MAREANO-cruise found a wreck off Bodø that they assume must be DS Malmberget. After 108 years, we may be close to solving the mystery of this ship, which disappeared in a storm with 43 people on board.

Arctia Meritaito Oy is going to carry out bathymetric mapping in three smaller transects in the Barents Sea this year. The vessel MPV “Pohjanmeri” starts the expedition June 15^th.

Cruise diary: After 16 hours transit from Garsholbanken, we arrived at a new sampling area, west of Aktivneset. This place is special as it is located at the outer part of the Norwegian Channel, a channel that starts south of Oslo and curves around Norway, before reaching Aktivneset.

The MAREANO programme will continue the bathymetric mapping in the Barents Sea this year, although only three smaller transects. A new tender competition for bathymetric mapping was published 8 March 2021.

Cruise diary: The ongoing MAREANO survey has now moved southwards from the Træna Bank to the Sklinna Bank on the mid-Norwegian shelf. The seafloor terrain here varies more than farther north, and we have found hitherto unregistered cold-water coral reefs.

Cruise diary: In the framework of this year´s seabed mapping on the Norwegian continental shelf, R/V "G.O. Sars" arrived on Trænabanken last week.

Thursday afternoon, on the 10th of October, RV G.O. Sars left Tromsø harbour, heading for Kvitøyrenna, a bathymetric trough located between the islands Storøya and Kvitøya within the eastern part of the Svalbard archipelago. It is a long way from Tromsø to Kvitøya, and the transit was planned to take two and a half day. However, the trip took even longer when a northerly wind picked up.

MAREANO is currently on cruise gathering visual and physical seabed samples from several areas around the Svalbard archipelago in the Norwegian Arctic. At the moment we are back in outer Kongsfjordrenna trough, offshore of northwest Svalbard, after a couple of days working closer to shore in Kongsfjorden due to poor weather. Here we tell you a little bit about what we have seen here.

Mareano has now published an updated general biotope map for the Barents Sea. This map more than doubles the area for which biotopes distribution has been predicted in this area, and provides the first indication from Mareano results of distinctive habitats occurring in Arctic waters and north of the Polar Front.

The Our Ocean 2019 conference is being held in Oslo 23-24 October 2019. The conference brings together leaders from governments, businesses, civil society and research institutions to share their experience, identify solutions and commit to action for a clean, healthy and productive ocean. Several side events are open to the public, including our event named “MAREANO – A Unique seabed mapping programme”.

Saturday 6^th April, a crisp, bright morning in Tromsø and 15 scientists and engineers from the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) and the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) join the crew onboard G.O. Sars and set sail for Bjørnøya (Bear Island), where we will survey an area of around 4 500 km² extending as far as 75°N in the western Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea.