Field Trips

Spending time in the field is such a good way to cement classroom topics. I have demonstrated on day trips and a two week long field course.

Boat Practicals

The University of Southampton research vessel, Callista, is used to give students hands on experience with oceanographic data collection.

Lab Practicals

I have helped undergraduate students carry out lab practicals.

Field Trips

Shell Bay Beach

Second year undergraduate Oceanography and Marine Biology students went on a day trip to Shell Beach, Studland, Dorset.

A small stream crosses the beach and students studied the different bedforms they could observe at different points in the stream as its flow speed increases.

Plymouth

At the end of their second year Oceanography and Marine Biology students spend a week in Plymouth. They alternate between data collection on a vessel and analysing the data in the lab.

Boat Practicals

Callista

Boat practicals on Callista are a definite highlight to any course. Spending time in Southampton water learning how different instruments work and collecting data tops sitting in a lecture theatre any day.

Students learn how to use:

  • Secchi disks to measure light penetration

  • Handheld T/S probes to measure temperature and salinity

  • CTD which measures conductivity, temperature, and depth. It sends live measurements to a computer so the water column structure can be seen in real time and then analysed.

  • ADCP which stands for Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler which measures the direction and speed of the current to understand how the water is moving in the estuary.

Lab Practicals

Sediment in the Environment

I have helped students conduct a number of experiments to get hands on experience of working in a lab.

Viscosity of glycerine

Sediment grain size distribution

The flume is used to visualise hydraulic properties of different water flows.