von Albert Firus und Laurenz van Bonn (GEOMAR) Albert und Laurenz an bord des F/S Sonne (Foto: Tjark Andersch). Während die F/S SONNE die ersten Messstationen rund um den Äquator hinter sich lässt und weiter hineinfährt in den Golf der Bengalen, haben Techniker*innen, Wissenschaftler*innen und Crew an Bord alle Hände voll zu tun. Während das für die einen schon fast Alltag ist, wie zum Beispiel für unseren Techniker Mario, der bereits zum 36. Mal bei einer Forschungsfahrt dabei ist, sammeln andere in diesen Tagen ihre allerersten Erfahrungen an Bord eines Forschungsschiffs ..read more

By Albert Firus and Laurenz van Bonn (GEOMAR) Albert and Laurenz on board the R/V Sonne (Photo by: Tjark Andersch). As the SONNE leaves the first measurement station around the equator behind and continues further into the Bay of Bengal, technicians, scientists, and crew on board are quite busy. While for some this is almost routine, such as our technician Mario, who is on his 36th cruise already, others are gaining their first experiences on board of a research vessel these days. This includes the two students Albert (26, Geosciences) and Laurenz (21, Environmental Sciences). Albert is i ..read more

by Dr. Arun Babu Suja Group photograph of the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) team onboard R/V Sonne. On the left picture from right to left: Rene Rabe, Dr. Arun Babu Suja, and Shravan Deshmukh. Greetings from the high seas by the TROPOS scientific team! Our mission during the BIOCAT-IIOE2 cruise is to delve into the fascinating world of atmospheric aerosols – those tiny particles suspended in the air – and unlock their secrets. These tiny particles suspended in the air hold immense significance in shaping our planet’s climate and ecosystems. Our mission is to unravel ..read more

Last year in summer I finished my Master’s degree. I was, and still am, very much in love with science, and enjoyed my research-focussed program a lot. No surprise that I wanted to pursue a scientific career, and that I was very happy I had managed to secure a PhD position as the next step down the academic road. I was on top of my game, I knew what I wanted, I was bursting with excitement, couldn’t wait to get started, I felt intelligent and capable and well-qualified for the job. And then bureaucracy happened. And it made me question everything – first and foremost my own intelligence and ca ..read more

In den letzten Blogeinträgen haben wir gruselig aussehende Tiefseefische, gallertartige Schönheiten und faszinierende mikroskopische Organismen gezeigt. Eine weitere häufige Organismengruppe, die wir während MSM126 gefangen haben und die bisher nicht im Rampenlicht stand, sind die Kopffüßer (Cephalopoden). Cephalopoden sind Weichtiere – wie Schnecken oder Muscheln – und gehören zu den Meeresbewohnern, die oft eine hohe trophische Position in den Nahrungsnetzen einnehmen. Während unserer Fahrt haben wir mit unseren Kamerasystemen Cephalopoden wie Tintenfische, Oktopoden oder Sepien entdeckt und ..read more

The last blog posts showed you scary-looking deep-sea fishes, gelatinous beauties and mesmerizing microscopic organisms. Another frequent organism group we captured during MSM126 which did not enjoy a spotlight so far are the cephalopods. Cephalopods are molluscs – like snails or mussels – and are marine inhabitants which often occupy high trophic positions in food webs. During our cruise, we encountered cephalopods such as squids, octopods or cuttlefish with our camera systems and also caught them frequently with our net gear. On board we deployed a multitude of net types. Nets with large ope ..read more

For latest information regarding the 2nd April 2024 Taiwan M7.4 earthquake and tsunami, see Dr Heidarzadeh’s interview with CNN below. https://video.wixstatic.com/video/551ee8_43bbadc485ec423b9603a98e5654af60/720p/mp4/file.mp4 Taiwan M7.4 earthquake and tsunami on 2nd April 2024 ..read more

The past blog entries have shown you the breath-taking and beautiful works of the JellyWeb expedition: we have seen colourful critters, cutting edge technology and brave physicists alone amongst biologists. Our projects on MSM126 are quite diverse and besides all of them being quite exciting, they share one more trait: they all produce a ton of data. Data, that needs to be managed and curated. I am going to be honest: if I would visit a blog about a deep-sea biology expedition containing posts about the coolest organisms and equipment ever, I would probably skip the part about data management ..read more

HiWi is the abbreviation for the German term ‘Hilfs-Wissenschaftler*in’, which translates to research assistant, and describes a job position for students, often offered by faculties or research institutes. I am definitely not talking about the second definition given by German Wikipedia. For nearly six years I’ve been one of many HiWis, going through research groups and following up on a range of tasks. I spent weeks of my life literally just scanning documents, but I also went on 10 international research missions. I met great people, built friendships and networks. I also found myself in si ..read more

As part of our cruise MSM126 focus on the “jellyweb”, we are also interested in siphonophores. Even in the vast and mysterious world of marine life teeming with peculiar inhabitants, these distinctive creatures stand out. While they share similarities with jellyfish, particularly in having stinging cells known as cnidocysts, they do not look much like them at first glance. Siphonophores, in fact are not single organisms but are colonies comprised of individual units called zoids, each performing a specific function in seamless concert. These colonies consist of a myriad of entities termed zoid ..read more