Marine

  • Remembering Helen Stormonth Ogilvie (1880-1960)

    17th May 2023 by

    On this day in 1880, Helen Stormonth Ogilvie was born who, as far as we know, was the first woman to be employed by the Fisheries Board for Scotland, now the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government. Born in Dundee, Helen Ogilvie studied at Dundee University College at the time it became affiliated to St…

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  • Colleagues contribute to Harmful Algal Bloom report

    8th July 2021 by

    Harmful algal blooms (HABs) present a problem for marine ecosystems, associated industries and societies across the world, including Scotland.
    The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO has just published the first Global HAB Status Report (GHSR), Marine Scotland was one of the contributors.

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  • Assessing Plankton in the UK

    3rd February 2020 by

    Two scientists from Marine Scotland Science (MSS), Dr Eileen Bresnan and Dr Margarita Machairopoulou, have been involved in the first ever assessment of the status of the plankton community in UK waters. Led by the University of Plymouth, scientists from all around the UK joined together to share their datasets and knowledge to fill in…

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  • Reviewing our Year of Science

    18th January 2019 by

    Today sees the publication of our Annual Science Review for 2017/18. The Review, which highlights the impacts and achievements of Marine Scotland Science (MSS), details the overall contribution and support that our scientists make to the work of Marine Scotland. During this period we have published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and supported more than 75…

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  • Opening the Doors on Coastal Monitoring

    12th September 2017 by

    Staff at Marine Scotland are busy preparing for Aberdeenshire Doors Open Day on the 16th September. Located in the courtyard of the Tollbooth Museum by Stonehaven harbour between 10am until 4pm, they will be presenting a display about the renowned Scottish Coastal Observatory site located 5km offshore from Stonehaven. For the last 20 years, environmental factors at sea such…

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  • SCObs Weekly Sampling to Expand at St Abbs

    7th April 2017 by

    The Scottish Coastal Observatory (SCObs) monitors the temperature, salinity, nutrients and plankton community at a number of sites around the Scottish coast. The efforts of Marine Scotland scientists are supported by a network of local citizen-scientists who deploy small temperature sensors and collect water samples for analysis. Many of the SCObs sites have been collecting…

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  • Keeping an eye on the coastline with SCObs

    23rd January 2017 by

    Scientists in Marine Scotland, along with a small group of voluntary citizen-scientists, have been monitoring the physics, chemistry and biology at multiple sites in Scotland’s coastal waters since 1997. The sites monitored, shown on the left, include Millport, Mallaig, Loch   Maddy, Loch Ewe, Scapa, Fair Isle, Scalloway, Cromarty, East Coast and Stonehaven. Consistent ecological time series of data…

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  • New phytoplankton and microbe report launched

    23rd October 2012 by

    The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has launched its first phytoplankton and microbial plankton status report. This report presents data from sixty one sites and from seven geographic regions within the North Atlantic, Baltic and Mediterranean areas. It also includes forty standard areas from the continuous plankton recorder monitoring programme operated by…

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  • Harmful Algae in Scottish Waters

    18th June 2012 by

    Under certain environmental conditions, marine phytoplankton can grow very quickly and form what are called “Harmful Algal Blooms” or HABs. In some instances these natural blooms can impact the marine ecosystem by causing mortalities of animals that live on the sea bed. This may occur either directly as a result of toxins produced by the…

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  • Spring is coming in the water

    29th February 2012 by

    This week we have seen the first signs of spring in our gardens as snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils have started to shoot through the soil. In the waters surrounding our shores we are also beginning to see the first signs of spring as the phytoplankton diatom population has begun to grow too. Below are some…

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