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Australian scientists are nearer to discovering extra concerning the winter actions of Antarctic krill due to a not-so-subtle system.
Sitting on the seafloor close to Mawson analysis station have been two KOMBIs or Krill Observational Mooring for Benthic Investigation.
Resembling a giant, brilliant yellow field, that they had been quietly accumulating knowledge since they have been deployed by groups on board the RV Investigator in January 2021.
Now the 2 KOMBIs are off the ocean ground and again within the palms of scientists able to trawl via mountains of data.
Biologist Dr Maddie Brasier mentioned understanding what Antarctic krill do in winter has been notoriously tough.
“Within the summertime, we will go down there on a ship and examine krill utilizing sound, and we will additionally trawl for krill,” Dr Brasier mentioned.
“However in winter we will’t get there due to the impenetrable sea ice.”
“So the KOMBI allows us to check krill all yr spherical together with that seafloor habitat that we will’t entry.”
To do that, the KOMBIs are filled with lights and cameras that activate each 5 hours to report a brief burst of sea ground footage, in addition to an echo sounder to measure the biomass of krill above.
Rounding out the on board know-how is an excessive definition audio recorder developed and constructed by the AAD Expertise and Innovation staff, which is able to recording greater than a years’ price of calls made by seals and whales, that are key predators of Antarctic Krill.
Downloading from the deep
Sifting via hours of echo sounder knowledge is the duty of fisheries acoustics scientist Dr Abbie Smith.
“An echo sounder produces a sound pulse via the water column after which the instrument will pay attention for the echoes which can be returned,” Dr Smith mentioned.
“They’ll bounce off something that’s within the water column, be it krill, fish, ice, all the pieces.”
It’s hoped the information will reveal krill biomass at depths past the attain of ships.
“Historically, strategies utilized by ships are solely in a position to measure acoustic knowledge all the way down to 250 metres for krill due to background noise points related to transferring vessels,” Dr Smith mentioned.
“Having these quiet moorings on the seafloor signifies that we’re going to have the ability to get biomass knowledge for krill beneath this depth and determine how a lot biomass we’re lacking with ships alone.”
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