University of Hull student joins leading oceanographers on voyage of discovery

Measurements taken by scientists on board the RRS Discovery may support surprising new theories around the positive impacts of floating offshore turbines on warming seas.

Working with researchers from the Universities of Southampton, Liverpool, Bangor and East Anglia aboard the Royal Research Ship, Ben Whitcombe will be taking sea temperatures and plankton samples around established and new windfarm developments along the North Sea coast.

Ben said: “My research has focused on conventional turbine towers built into the seabed off the East Yorkshire coast. We’ll be taking measurements around Hornsea 1 and 2, the largest offshore windfarms in the North Sea. This time we’re also looking at floating turbines off the coast of Scotland.

“It’s possible they may have a positive impact on the marine environment, not only by helping to reduce carbon emissions, but also by reversing the impact of rising surface sea temperatures.

“Floating turbines may be lifting deep, cold water and plankton up to the surface where they can sustain fish populations and seabirds affected by warming seas. The plankton samples and measurements I’ll be taking will help to establish if that is happening.”

For Ben, the voyage is an opportunity to carry out science informing the sustainable development of the offshore wind industry. It’s also an opportunity to work with oceanographers from across the country.

“I’ll be working with 20 other researchers and some of the country’s leading oceanographers. It’s a great opportunity to learn and to share knowledge about work going on elsewhere.”

And when RRS Discovery docks in Dundee after four weeks at sea, it will do so beside the first RRS Discovery, famed for the voyages of polar explorers Scott and Shakleton, and Sir Alister Hardy. Hardy joined that ship in 1925 on a two-year voyage to the Southern Oceans. He returned in 1927 to be appointed the first Professor of Zoology and Oceanography at the University of Hull, where Ben now studies.

Ben said: “I’ll be collecting samples and taking measurements using techniques developed by Hardy and, in some cases using similar equipment. The geography and the challenges facing the marine environment are different but the job is essentially the same. It’s vitally important to understand the marine environment, to discover how it’s changing to make the best possible decisions for the future.”

This is not Ben’s first expedition. He recently returned from a voyage from Tromso in Norway to Nice on the Mediterranean where he attended the United Nations Ocean Conference.

“That was aboard a tall ship, an amazing experience. I’m glad to be going out again and looking forward to some stormy weather. I really like being at sea in a storm. The only bad thing about being at sea is when the fresh fruit runs out.”