A/Prof. Kelsie Dadd and Dr. Leanne Armand (Dept. Biological Sciences) have just returned from the East Coast of Tasmania where they participated on a 5 day “Geosciences” trial voyage on the new Marine National Facility, RV *Investigator*. The ~94m long, $120 million, ocean-going research vessel replaced the RV *Southern Surveyor* as Australia’s premier research vessel for all marine sciences. On this trial mission both Macquarie researchers assisted in the trialling and testing of new geoscience equipment for the new vessel, including the use of gravity corers, Smith-MacIntyre sediment grabs and sea-floor dredges. Kelsie and Leanne were impressed with the ship’s new laboratory spaces spanning the majority of the working deck level and the silence of the ship. The ship will be visiting Sydney this week where Dr. Armand will tour the ship with Prof. Sakkie Pretorius (DVC-R), Prof. John Simons (DVC-A), Prof. Peter Nelson (PVC-RP&I) and Prof. Barbara Messerle (Dean Fac. S&E).
Photo: P. Harmsen, MNF 2015
