2005 Press Releases

28 Apr 2005

Irish Scientists Unlock Secrets of Irish Coral Reef



Today (Thursday 28th April 2005) the world-class drill ship JOIDES Resolution sets sail from Dublin with two Irish scientists on board, Dr Boris Dorschel from University College Cork (UCC) and Xavier Monteys from the Geological Survey of Ireland. Their mission is to drill through a dormant Irish deep-water coral reef to discover how it formed and grew. This is part of an international expedition by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP) involving top American, Japanese and European scientists. "This is a fantastic opportunity that we are proud to part of," says Dr Andy Wheeler, head of the deep-water coral research team at UCC, "Ireland is fortunate to attract such a magnificent drill ship to undertake scientific work on our seabed, this is the first time the JOIDES Resolution has docked in Ireland".

"UCC's researchers have been working on these coral reefs since 1997 using high tech seafloor mapping equipment and remotely operated video systems. Some of these reefs are 300m tall and several kilometres across," said Dr Wheeler, "They are teeming with life and represent a wonderful biological resource for Ireland, 800m below the waves". However, despite all this work researchers still do not understand why they formed and how they grow. "We have plenty of theories but until now we simply have not been able to sample a mound completely, they are so big", said Dr Boris Dorschel from UCC who will be on the vessel during drilling, "These Irish coral mounds have already been the focus of European research, the fact that IODP is prepared to undertake this expensive expedition is recognition of the good work already done and the importance of these unique seabed features."

The UCC research group led by Dr Andy Wheeler believe the mounds have formed over millions of years. "The corals are very sensitive to changes in the marine environment and can grow very quickly. By drilling we will reveal an unprecedented high resolution record of climate change," says UCC's Dr Boris Dorschel, "Changes in ocean circulation affect global climate, by studying this deep ocean record, especially sensitive to the Irish climate, we hope to understand this better". Dr Andy Wheeler goes on to say that "The sensitivity of these reefs to changes in the environment may mean they are threatened by global warming. We want to understand how they grow, what are their tolerances and what we can do to sustain this important habitat."

UCC's research group will work on the three 200m drill-cores for the next three years using the University laser particle sizer to map changes in ocean current strength and relate this is coral ecosystem vitality.

University College Cork is grateful to the Geological Survey of Ireland for its involvement in IODP.

060MMcS



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