THE research vessel Oceanus left Jeddah on Oct. 13 after completing a weeklong series of activities which are part of a scientific survey of the Red Sea. The ship's research objectives were to deploy a surface mooring with meteorological buoy at 675-m depth near 22°10'N, 38°29'E, and to deploy two surface moorings and two bottom tripods at 30-40-m depth near 21°57'N, 38°45'E or 22°7'N, 38°55'E. The planned scientific activities focused on measuring the depths, temperature and salinity in the Red Sea, and biological sampling through net tows and scuba diving.
The Oceanus is a ship owned by the US National Science Foundation and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Last year, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) finalized an agreement with WHOI to fund three multipronged research projects by WHOI scientists: coastal hydrography, headed by WHOI physical oceanographer Amy Bower; coral ecosystems, headed by biologist Simon Thorrold; and fisheries and aquaculture economics, headed by Andy Solow, director of the WHOI Marine Policy Center. Other WHOI scientists participating in research in Saudi Arabian waters include paleoceanographer Konrad Hughen, biologist Jesus Pineda, coral researcher Anne Cohen, and physical oceanographers Thomas Farrar and Steve Lentz. Learn more about WHOI, its scientists, ships and technology at www.whoi.edu.
KAUST, located on the shores of the Red Sea, is working with WHOI scientists to establish the KAUST Marine and Ocean Research Center, which will provide critical information about ocean ecosystems, fisheries and water circulation along the Saudi Arabian coast in the northern central Red Sea. WHOI is a private, independent organization in Falmouth, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the US National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the oceans and their interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean's role in the changing global environment.
Young people in the Kingdom may be inspired by the story of a former WHOI research associate, biologist Rhian Waller. A UK national, Waller lived in the Kingdom until the age of twelve. Her parents, both microbiologists working in Riyadh, frequently took the family along went they went on scuba diving adventures to the Kingdom's coasts.
“I spent a lot of time in the water and on boats, swimming, snorkeling, and playing,” wrote Waller in an online account of her early years. “I think my interest in oceanography stems from seeing all those wonderful coral reefs as a kid, learning all the names of the fish and corals, and seeing octopi, dolphins, whales and sharks up close.”
Read more of her story at www.divediscover.whoi.edu/expedition9/interviews/index.html. Waller is now an assistant researcher at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
