News

Cruise diary: This April saw MAREANO return to Kvitøyrenna to pick up the missing pieces of our previous sampling campaigns, a first step towards delivering a completed puzzle.

Cruise diary: What’s a typical day onboard like for the geology team on a MAREANO cruise? Alongside the biologists we watch video footage of the seafloor streamed live from the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and log changes in the seabed substrate, from mud to boulders and bedrock.

This summer the MAREANO programme will conduct bathymetric mapping in the North Sea and the Norwegian Trench, including the possible offshore wind areas “Vestavind F” and “Sørvest F”.

Terrain models from the offshore wind area Sørlig Nordsjø 2, both map services and datasets, are published in the Norwegian Mapping Authority's services.

After more than 80 years on the seabed, what is probably the wreckage of the British submarine HMS Thistle has been discovered outside Rogaland, Norway.

Possibly the world's tallest gas column is flowing from Norway's deepest point. From an ocean depth of 3,900 meters in the Molloydypet west of Svalbard, the gas rises a full 3.3 kilometers upwards in the water.

Cruise diary: We are now at our study area in the deepest part of the Skagerrak to investigate some unusual features on the seabed. After World War II and as late as the 1960s, it was common practice to sink munitions, which were beyond the use-by date, in deep lakes or the sea. 

Cruise diary: The MAREANO summer cruise has started full speed with full stations already done in 2 of the 3 planned areas.

Expedition diary: On this easter MAREANO survey, a lot of our time has been spent on sandy plains occasionally encountering sea stars and flat fish. But sometimes we come across a different landscape that makes us all sit up and say “wow”!

Expedition diary: Learn about the mysterious Yellow Anemone.

The MAREANO programme will conduct bathymetric mapping in Norskerenna in the North Sea this year. The assigned contractor is Fugro Germany Marine GmbH.

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.