ECO Magazine

An expedition to international waters off the coast of Brazil used state-of-the-art to confirm new midwater species and observed the living 3D cellular structure of a microbe—a first for .

An international team of midwater experts on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) discovered over two dozen new on a recent expedition off the coast of Brazil in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean. The scientists used advanced technologies to explore the ocean’s midwater—the water between the sunlit layer and the seafloor—which is Earth’s largest and least explored habitable ecosystem.

Jan De Nul Group has taken an important step in the of in the Belgian North Sea. On the seabed of a protected marine area, 2,000 stones were placed, inoculated with a total of 400,000 young, hatchery-grown oysters. With this intervention, the team is directly contributing to the recovery of an ecosystem that once played a key role in the North Sea.

Oyster reefs are highly valuable habitats. They increase , support fish production, and strengthen the natural functioning of . This is precisely why restoring this habitat is a priority.

Researchers deployed Ocean Diagnostics’ portable Surface Sampler to collect genetic material in areas too remote and extreme to obtain with existing tools. These samples, analyzed back in the laboratory, revealed Chinook salmon in a location historically believed to be beyond their migratory reach. This data supports tribal fisheries managers in understanding how human activities may be altering salmon behavior across the Pacific Northwest and introducing and activities to protect them.

TouchWind has successfully installed its turbine prototype at Fieldlab Green Economy Westvoorne in the Netherlands. Following the installation, the POWER project has now entered the in-water field testing phase, marking the next step in the demonstration program.

The POWER project—‘POsitive Wake Effects of turbines with tilted Rotors’—investigates how turbines with tilted rotors can deflect wakes and draw higher-energy wind from upper air layers. Combining these effects could enable wind farms with significantly higher power density.