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Valeport supports The Ocean Warrior project that prepares to expand the frontiers of marine science with its foundation expeditions


A unique voyage to build a greater scientific understanding of the marine environment in the Arctic and the impacts of global climate change will see a team of scientists and ‘citizen scientists’ setting sail from Svalbard at the start of September aboard Europe’s largest wooden schooner.


Ocean Warrior is the brainchild of internationally-renowned explorer, Jim McNeill, who has been running scientific expeditions to the Arctic for over two decades and has acted as a consultant for natural history programmes such as the BBC’s Frozen Planet.


Designed to collect critical scientific measurements from remote areas of the Arctic Ocean in order to build up an improved picture of the changes taking place due to climate change and other factors, Ocean Warrior will also help to ‘ground-truth’ data collected via satellites.


For the first ten-day leg of the expedition (departing Svalbard on September 1st with a subsequent departure on September 11th), the 18-strong team, including crew members, scientists and citizen scientists are tasked with building an understanding of the vessel and her capabilities, in order that the potential for scientific data capture can be maximised. The expedition aims to install and test scientific and technological equipment such as weather stations, FerryBox, CTD, Bathymetry, Communications, and Safety. Additionally, an online dashboard will be created to convey the findings and capture stories through digital and broadcast content capture.


The project is being supported by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), a world leader in the field of marine research, Valeport, (which designs and manufactures oceanographic and hydrographic instrumentation), Mole Energy, Dartmoor Brewery and Henri Lloyd.


Travelling to seldom-visited areas of the Ocean each year between June and October, Ocean Warrior intends to cover 10,000 nautical miles each year, over the next ten years, collecting data on a range of key ‘indicators’ – in areas such as water quality, plankton, eDNA, salinity and ocean acidity.


This will help scientists gain a clearer understanding of the pace of changes taking place, their impacts on marine ecosystems, and what the future may hold for the Arctic region and the wildlife, populations and economies which depend upon it.


“Our quest is to help scientists put a better, more immediate ‘finger on the pulse of our planet’ by exploring the extreme environments on Earth in the greatest detail. These are the indicators of change and by measuring, benchmarking and monitoring over a 10-year period we should be able to detect changes, both good and bad. Through the citizen science aspect of the explorations we’re also enabling people from different walks of life to come and be part of something that will generate highly important scientific research.” said Jim McNeill. ”I am so honoured and delighted to have Icarus and his team at PML spearheading the science. As one of the centres of excellence, worldwide, I look forward to pushing boundaries together.”


Prof. Icarus Allen, Chief Executive of PML, who will be part of the team for the first leg of the expedition, said: “We’re delighted to be the scientific partner aboard Ocean Warrior and are extremely excited about the prospect of delivering research with her over a sustained time period. To support a sustainable future for the Ocean we need to be in a position to monitor the changes which are happening. Ocean Warrior will be a valuable addition to this pursuit and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can develop the project over the years ahead.”


Guy Frankland, Head of Marketing at Valeport, said: “We understand the pressing importance of expeditions such as this, and are proud to be supporting Ocean Warrior with the provision of our leading- edge marine sensing and monitoring equipment. On board the project team will be using our SWiFT CTDplus profiler to gather important data. High quality, precision data is fundamental to the expedition’s success, enabling the team to measure and benchmark environmental change as the project develops.“


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Water quality standards proposed by ASTM


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Two proposed standards from ASTM International’s water committee (D19) are devoted to different aspects of water quality.


The first proposed standard (WK68866) will provide a screening method to assess contaminants in water samples prior to a more detailed analysis. If approved, this standard will cover the determination of adsorbable organic fluorine (AOF) in waters and waste waters that can be adsorbed to activated carbon.


“Currently there are more than 4000


per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment,” says ASTM member Jay Gandhi, manager, Vertical Markets, Metrohm. “The proposed standard is a screening tool that will help capture more than 90% of PFAS chemicals to assess the PFAS impact in the environment.”


The proposed standard will be useful to manufacturers of consumer products that potentially contain PFAS substances, as well to environmental regulators.


The committee is also developing a proposed standard (WK74312) that will help to assess the potential for bioavailable aluminum in water samples to be toxic to aquatic life.


“The practical application of the proposed standard is that the method can be used to measure the fraction of aluminum in natural waters – rivers and lakes – that may result in toxicity,” says ASTM member Bill Adams.


Adams, senior scientist, Red Cap Consulting, notes that the existing approach measures total aluminum in water, which includes aluminum that comes from suspended sediment in the sample. However, the fraction contained in that sediment is not available to organisms, so its inclusion in the measurement provides a false indication of the hazard of a given sample.


“The bioavailable aluminum method described in the proposed standard provides a more accurate measure of the potential of the aluminum in solution to be toxic to aquatic life,” says Adams.


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BRINGING THE LATEST NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE NEWS


ABB and Samsung Engineering to collaborate on gas analysers for Saudi Arabia’s energy industries


ABB has signed a framework agreement with Samsung Engineering in Saudi Arabia to collaborate in engineering and procurement activities in the Kingdom. With this agreement, ABB becomes a single-source vendor for gas analyser system integration for Samsung in Saudi Arabia.


The two companies plan to explore business opportunities and provide complete analytical solutions to the Saudi oil & gas market. Effective measurement of gas quality is key to safety and reliability, decreasing the environmental footprint and increasing profitability of the production process. ABB’s solutions support the most demanding applications.


“ABB is committed to helping customers in the energy transition. Between ABB and Samsung Engineering, we have an impressive portfolio that demonstrates technology expertise and technical capability. With this agreement, we are capable and ready to serve customers in Saudi Arabia,” said Javier Suárez Díez, Global System Integration Manager at ABB.


ABB’s analytical systems portfolio includes direct-read continuous gas analysers, online gas analysers using laser analytical techniques, rapid response process gas chromatographs and more. In addition to analytical systems, ABB provides gas analyser system integration with fully customised analytical systems and solutions – from initial engineering through fabrication, testing, field start-up, and support.


ABB’s 10,000 square meter world-class integration facility for analytical systems, which the company is building in Dammam, will support the collaboration. The factory is expected to become a leader in the production of analytical systems in the region.


ABB and Samsung Engineering have worked together on several occasions, including on the Aramco Jafurah phase 1 project. With this agreement, they are ready to serve customers in Saudi Arabia.


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