A Deeper Perspective: 5 Years of The Delos Project (Portuguese)

O'Brien, R. et al. (2014) A Deeper Perspective: 5 Years of The Delos Project (Portuguese). In: SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment, Long Beach, CA. USA, 17-19 Mar 2014, pp. 822-833. ISBN 9781632662293 (doi: 10.2118/168419-MS)

Abstract

The Deep-ocean Environmental Long-term Observatory System (DELOS) was installed in Block 18 Angola in February 2009, and therefore celebrates its 5th anniversary in February 2014. The two DELOS platforms are located 16km apart in 1,400m of water depth. One is within 50 metres of subsea facilities, and the second is 16km from any sea floor infrastructure. Each platform comprises two parts: - a sea floor docking station that is deployed on the sea floor at the start of the monitoring program and remains for the 20 year project duration; and a number of observatory modules that are designed to perform specific environmental monitoring functions. Each observatory module has enough battery and storage capacity for autonomous operation for 12 months. Towards the end of the 12 month deployment period each platform requires ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) intervention to recover observatory modules to the surface for service, calibration and data offload. DELOS has already provided the scientific community with a unique long-term dataset to study the natural environmental conditions in the deepwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The data collected so far has provided a unique opportunity to examine the spatial and temporal variability of physico-chemical conditions and biological communities. Studies to-date have shown, for example, a direct correlation between the physico-chemical conditions (temperature, salinity etc.) and the fish communities present at the two sites. Based on the results already collected by the project, the scientific community has strongly advocated the further development of paired, deep-water observatories in other regions of the World’s oceans. This paper will chart the successes, and challenges, of the DELOS project to-date, examine some of the data collected during the first 5 years, and discuss the need for continued, long-term observations of the deep ocean both offshore Angola and elsewhere.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bailey, Dr David
• Authors: O'Brien, R., Walls, A., Clarke, J., Pereira Costa, S., Oliveira, S., Smith, K., Priede, I., Vardaro, M., Rowe, G., Bailey, D., Milligan, R., Ruhl, H., and Sangolay, B. B.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• ISBN: 9781632662293