Farmar Aton in the service of research

Text: Sveinung W. Jensen, Tellus Kommunikasjon

"The company's experience with marine operations ensured that we received the help we needed to handle sensitive instrumentation and to launch this as planned," says Tove M. Gabrielsen.

She is a professor at the Department of Natural Sciences at UiA and also grew up and resides in Farsund.

FARMAR ATON was used in the operation. The crane vessel is equipped with dynamic positioning (DP), which ensures that it can maintain the same position using its own propellers.

"This was very useful in terms of keeping our position under somewhat rough conditions and made our job easier. Additionally, the boat had a very skilled crew on board, which contributed to us being able to deploy the observatory in a safe and proper manner," says Gabrielsen.

IN THE PROJECT UiA is collaborating with UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Innakva LAB.

"The observatory contains measuring instruments that will provide us with continuous data on parameters such as temperature, salinity, currents, algae biomass, and zooplankton. These data can be used to validate oceanographic models and to provide direct data for basic research and management regarding the coastal environment," Gabrielsen explains.

UiA established a time series station in the Farsund archipelago in 2019.

Through monthly sampling, the coastal environment is examined for temperature, salinity, and oxygen in the water column. Additionally, water samples are taken to measure nutrients, algae biomass, and the species composition of bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, and zooplankton.

"THE PURPOSE of this monthly sampling is to investigate seasonal variations and changes over time in the coastal environment and the smallest organisms in the coastal ecosystem, which represent the base of the marine food web along the coast," Gabrielsen explains, adding:

"We are investigating environmental impacts, such as runoff from land and how such increased input of nutrients like nitrate and phosphate affects, among other things, the species composition at the base of the marine food chain, and how it influences algal blooms and algae biomass. We are also studying how the darkening of coastal waters, which we observe in Norwegian fjords nowadays, affects coastal ecosystems," says Gabrielsen.

THE PROJECT has funding from Sørlandets Kompetansefond, UiA and an Interreg project.

"What is new now, and what Farmar assisted us with, is that we need more continuous data to better study and understand coastal environments and ecosystems. This is of interest at the basic research level and is also necessary for sustainable management of the coast," says the UiA professor, who is extremely pleased with the help she and the project group received from Farmar.

"We plan to use them again for deploying and retrieving the rig in the coming years," says Gabrielsen.