OSCAR is a multi-institute NERC funded research project that aims to investigate the coupling of hydrothermal flow between the ocean and the lithosphere; its impact on the evolution of the oceanic crust and on basin-scale circulation.

Final checks on an ocean-bottom seismograph (OBS) before deployment to the seabed.
Deploying the CTD to measure the temperature and conductivity of the ocean, as well as collecting water samples from the surface to ~3000 m depth
Vertical Microstructure Profiler (VMP) instrument recovered onto deck.
Deploying the heat probe instrument to measure the heat flow from the seabed into the ocean.
The 4.5 km long multichannel streamer being deployed behind the ship.
Airguns ready on their yellow beams to be craned into the water.
The German research vessel Sonne on cruise SO238, involving collecting physical oceanographic data as well as aiding the RRS James Cook collect seismic data.
An OBS surfing the waves before recovery back to the RRS James Cook.

Latest OSCAR News