Measuring environmental data
To supplement much of the research conducted on site (e.g. coral monitoring and reef fish surveys) and to help better understand the lives of the animals using D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll, it is important to measure and monitor environmental conditions. One of the most important of these is sea temperature. A series of small loggers deployed at different areas and depths around the islands constantly record the water temperature. Additionally, via our on-site weather station, we collect meteorological data every day, including on wind, rainfall and air temperature.
Since its inception in 2012, the SOSF-DRC has been managed and run by different people in various capacities. Lab managers, research officers and research assistants have been integral to the daily operations of the centre over these years and our long-term projects have been handed on from past to present management.
Currently the SOSF-DRC is run by Dr Robert Bullock and Henriette Grimmel in a joint-management capacity.
The following is a history of past management staff:
- Dr Rainer von Brandis (scientific director) 2006/2012–2016, previously did his PhD on D’Arros and managed the research lab for the previous owners of the island
- Chris Boyes...
Environmental monitoring
The key objective of this project is to provide long-term baseline environmental information for other projects, both for historical reference and to monitor potential trends in patterns of local weather that may affect SOSF-DRC research.
Recording and monitoring environmental data can benefit all research projects and help understand how weather and sea conditions impact different species.
Continuous long-term data on the climatic and oceanographic conditions of a region help us to expand our knowledge and understanding of broader weather patterns and changes, both locally around D’Arros and St Joseph and regionally across the wider equatorial Indian Ocean. Long-term environmental data collection is valuable in supporting and corroborating a range of research outcomes for a variety of different study species.
The key objective of this monitoring project is met by several specific study objectives:
- To monitor a network of temperature-sensing loggers dispersed around D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll;
- To track trends in environmental and meteorological conditions at the D’Arros and St Joseph site over the long term.