Voyage Number
IN2024_T01
Voyage Dates
Voyage Location
Chief Scientist
Prof Jo Whittaker
Institution
University of Tasmania
Voyage summary
Transit voyage from Fremantle to Hobart to relocate RV Investigator in preparation for its next research voyage IN2024_V02. During the transit, various research projects will be conducted, along with outreach, familiarisation and training activities.
The MNF seeks to maximise the benefit and use of sea time whenever the vessel is at sea. Transit voyages are commonly used for vessel maintenance activities, education and outreach activities, and staff familiarisation and training. They may also include science projects compatible with the voyage duration and track, noting that limited time is generally available during a transit for projects that require time on station.
During every voyage, underway data is collected continuously by RV Investigator from an array of distributed sensors on board.
There are 9 projects on this voyage:
- Australia’s Southern Tectonic Margin: Understanding how Australia and Antarctica broke up (Prof Jo Whittaker, University of Tasmania)
- Microplastics in the food chain: impact on the microbial and planktonic organisms (Elise Tuuri, Flinders University)
- Characterization of CTD data quality from 6000m cast (Dr Peter Strutton, University of Tasmania – not on voyage)
- Minderoo eDNA ‘OceanOmics’ Sample Collections (Dr Eric Raes and Marcelle Ayad, Minderoo Foundation)
- Atmospheric sampling – opportunistic (Dr Alain Protat, BoM – not on voyage)
- Seafloor mapping – opportunistic (Dr Martin Jutzeler, UTas – not on voyage)
- Argo SOCCOM float deployments – opportunistic (Dr Christina Schallenberg, CSIRO)
- Staff exchange and familiarisation under NOAA-Geoscience Australia-CSIRO strategic partnership (Amy Nau, CSIRO - not on voyage)
- Science outreach by ‘That’s what I call science’ media program (Olivia Dove, UTas)
The voyage has 36 science party participants from 8 institutions including 4 Australian universities, Minderoo Foundation and NOAA (USA), in addition to 20 ship crew from MMA Offshore.
COVID Protocols
To safeguard the health and well-being of participants, strict COVID protocols apply to all activities on this voyage.
Voyage outcomes
A summary of voyage outcomes will be published approximately 3-6 months after the completion of the voyage.