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T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E U K O F F S H O R E O I L A N D G A S I N D U S T R Y
A
s unbelievable as it may
seem, scientists believe we
know more about the surface
of the moon than we do about our
undersea environment. “It’s thought
that more than 99 per cent of the
ocean f loor still remains unexplored,”
says Dr Daniel Jones of the National
Oceanography Centre (NOC) in
Southampton.
Shining a light on the most
inaccessible seabed locations around
the UK – and the world – the
SERPENT Project (Scientific and
Environmental ROV Partnership
using Existing Industrial Technology)
harnesses the technological
capabilities of the offshore
oil and gas industry.
Hidden depths
A pioneering partnership forged a decade ago between the UK offshore oil
and gas industry and the scientific community continues to reveal the hidden
depths of the undersea environment.
Wireline
delves deeper into the inner
workings of the SERPENT Project.
This hydroid,
Corymorpha glacialis
, is very rarely seen and lives
in cold water. This specimen was found in temperatures of
minus one degree celsius and at a depth of 1,080 metres below
sea level in the Tornado field, west of Shetland, in 2009. The
discovery broke records as the largest individual found of this
species at water depths greater than ever before
“It’s an important
UK ‘export’ – it was
born here, but it’s now
a truly global programme.”
