News

Around 55 million years ago there was volcanic activity in the northeastern part of Mørebanken, offshore mid-Norway. Today we can find remains of this volcanism in the form of a steep sided column-like mountain rising from an otherwise fairly flat seabed, which now provides a home for a variety of fish and other bottom dwelling animals.

On this year’s autumn expedition, in addition to the usual mix of scientists and technicians, we had the pleasure of having two guests. They were the artist Pippip Ferner and the journalism student Silje Pileberg, who hoped to expand their horizons for the benefit of their own projects, while also shedding light on our research in ways that we would be unable to do.

Cruise report: The Sula Reef area in mid-Norway is known to contain numerous coral reefs, but less is known about coral reefs outside the designated protection area where trawling is prohibited. During transit between the Iverryggen and the Sula reef marine protected area (MPA), we used the opportunity to look for new and undiscovered coral reefs.

Cruise report: While using a video-rig to map the biodiversity of the sea-bottom, we often observe animal tracks crossing the seafloor. Such tracks can be holes, mounds or traces that are a result of the animals’ movement. This last week we have seen many such very decorative tracks on the seafloor in the area of Sunnmørsbankene at around 200 m depth, and the amount and density of the tracks bear witness of quite heavy “traffic” in some areas.

The vessel MS Hydrograf is currently acquiring bathymetry data as part of the MAREANO project. This is a short presentation of some bathymetric features recorded across the Sularevet reef, which has been surveyed this summer.

MAREANO has obtained access to existing bathymetric data acquired by other operators. The data are very valuable and will contribute to the progress of the programme.

The map service which shows seabed terrain has been updated with data from the Norwegian Sea.

In mid-September, R/V G.O. Sars embarked upon the 2012 MAREANO (Marine AREA database for Norwegian coastal and sea areas) fall survey. This year’s study area includes: coral reefs at Sula Reef outside South Trøndelag; several fishing areas along the route Kristiansund - Halten; and selected areas of the Møre Bank and Storegga North.

International workshop on methods and technology for seabed mapping – Trondheim 17th-18th October 2012.

Dozens of new polychaete species unknown to science have been detected in seabed samples collected by MAREANO in the Norwegian Sea during the last couple of years. In addition, scientists have been able to extend the known area of occurrence of a number of species. The findings contribute to an increased understanding of species diversity in the little-known and "invisible" animal world within the deep-water bottom sediments off the North-Norwegian coast.

Three marine survey vessels are currently acquiring bathymetry data for the MAREANO project. Mapping has got off to a slow start because of strong winds and high seas, but we are hoping to make up some of the lost time.

The first MAREANO cruise this year has been successfully finished after a one month survey off Vesterålen/Nordland VI and off North-Trøndelag and Møre. The last 2-3 days were used for video filming in the northern part of the Storegga where both depth and fauna communities varied. In deep water the communities were affected by sub-zero temperatures and a thousands of years old underwater slide.

The second leg of MAREANO’s spring cruise has now been south to the Mid-Norwegian shelf. One area 3900 square kilometre large between Kristiansund and Halten, and a second 2900 square kilometre on the northern part Storegga have been mapped by video.

Cruise report: The second part of MAREANO's "spring cruise" is underway and is due to end in Tromsø 22 May after a 10-day cruise off the coast of Trøndelag, mid-Norway. After two days of investigations three unknown coral reefs have been found, of which one is probably a couple of hundred meters long.

Cruise report: MAREANO continues to accumulate many samples and a multitude of marine organisms. Many of these will be held in the Bergen University Museum and made available for researchers all over the world. The description and classification of organisms is a prime function of museum staff and such taxonomic research has brought us from the National Museum of Wales to the Norwegian Sea.

Cruise report: MAREANO's spring-cruise with R/V G.O. Sars has now been going on for about one week. The purpose of this first part of the cruise is to complete the mapping of habitats, benthic fauna and pollutants in the Nordland VI area off Lofoten, while in the second part video-filming will take place in the Storegga area and an area between Kristiansund and Halten.

Ida Bendixen Leinebø recently finished a master’s programme in environmental chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, University of Bergen. During the past two years, she has done her experimental master work at the Chemistry Laboratory at the Institute of Marine Research: analyses of radionuclides in sediment cores collected as part of the MAREANO programme.

So far, the MAREANO project has focused on areas off the counties of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. This year, areas off Møre og Romsdal will also be surveyed. The aim is to produce biotope maps to assist with the revision of the management plan for the Norwegian Sea by September 2013.

The maps with the levels of hydrocarbons are now updated with the results from the 23 locations investigated in 2010. Same as before, the levels are low at all the places where sampling was carried out.

Bio-prospecting and benthic mapping were highlighted during the conference “On the exploration and utilizing the resources of the sea” that was arranged in historical environments in Lisbon on Wednesday Dec 14. MAREANO was among the invited speakers.

Modern environmental state and its recent changes can be assessed by studying successions of fine-grained sediments accumulating in shelf basins experiencing very weak or no current. Low current in such basins facilitates continuous deposition, a few millimeters per year, of mud and organic remains that are the main carriers of contamination in the marine environment.

The sea spider Cilunculus battenae was recently recorded in the Norwegian Economic Zone (NEZ) for the first time, when bottom samples from the MAREANO cruises from 2007-2009 were analysed. So far 21 different species have been found in the samples. Two species have previously been observed in the NEZ a few times.

The strong currents off the coast of Finnmark are renowned by local seafarers, and our latest observations North of Nordkynnhalvøya are shedding light on what affect these currents are having on the seabed.

During a 500 km long transit from Troms III to Nordland VI the MAREANO project has acquired new data from the upper sediment units. We applied Topas, a kind of strong echosounder sending signals at regular intervals into the seafloor.

MAREANO has completed the mapping at Troms III outside of Arnøya, located in Lopphavet in Troms, and is now steaming southwards to Nordland VI, at the southern tip of Lofoten.

In the afternoon, the 17. September, the scientific vessel G.O. Sars headed north from Tromsø. The ocean was calm, the wind was warm and the sunset colored the sky. The MAREANO autumn survey had started. We reached our destination north west of the island “Sørøya”, about 71° north, by midnight.

This summer’s MAREANO cruise with research vessel “G.O. Sars” ends today in Tromsø, with no time lost due to bad weather or equipment problems we have been very lucky, and have completed all the planned work, and a few extras. The Troms III area offshore north Troms (north Norway) has been the focus of the second leg of the cruise, continuing the good work begun in the first leg. Following video surveys over several previously undocumented coral reefs during the first leg, right at the end of the second leg we were lucky enough to encounter yet another reef, around 20 km north of Vannøya.

During the summer cruise of 2010, MAREANO completed mapping of a 150 km long and 16 km wide transect on the Nordkappbanken. During three days, R/V "G.O. Sars" made video recordings of the seabed at a total of 18 stations, and the sea bed was sampled with different types of equipment at four stations. Water depth in the mapped area ranges from 230 m to 315 m.

A quick note from all on board the Norwegian research vessel ‘G.O. Sars’. We are making good progress with the first of two MAREANO cruises to be undertaken this year, and are now mid-way through the second and final leg of this research cruise.

Mapping the distribution of seabed nature types is an important component of MAREANO. Nature types follow, and contribute to the development of the Norwegian Nature Types classification scheme at the nature-system level.