Practical Workshops

The participants will take part in five practical workshops over three days. Each practical has a length of half day, allowing half a day free. The 'oral and written communication' workshop is mandatory. Successful applicants will be asked to chose to participate in 4 of the 5 optional workshops:

Mandatory:

• Oral and written communication
  Oral and written communication in science

Optional:

• Research cruise
  Research cruise aboard the Tethys II (French research vessel) collecting chlorophyll/plankton samples, CTD data and other, chemical measurements

• Laboratory work
  Laboratory work to examine and analyse cruise samples
  

• Modelling
  Modelling workshop to quantify complex processes using numerical models

• Gas Exchange
  Experimental work on gas and heat exchange across the air-sea boundary using micro meteorological techniques

• Atmospheric chemistry
  Experimental work on atmospheric chemistry

Oral and written communication

The oral communication workshop will explain the basics of making a successful presentation. You will make a short presentation of your work to a small group and then discuss your strengths and weaknesses. The importance of body language will be discussed and tips on using PowerPoint will be provided. This will prepare you for a later presentation of your work to the whole School (see 'Student Duty' webpage within our 'Programme' drop-down menu above).

The written communication workshop will involve a group discussion on the techniques for producing a successful poster, using your own poster as an example (see 'Student Duty' webpage within our 'Programme' drop-down menu above). Strategies for efficient scientific writing will also be discussed.

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Research cruise

You will spend half a day aboard the French research vessel Thethys II. You will collect water samples at several stations using a rosette and filter the samples for chlorophyll analysis back at the Institute. You will also deploy nets to sample phyto and zooplankton at various depths. CTD and basic meteorological measurements will be made. This practical will give you an idea of the practicalities of making basic measurements are made at sea.

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Laboratory work

Back at the Institute, you shall use microscopes to identify phyto and zoo plankton species. The filtrate from several depth profiles will be analysed for chlorophyll. You will also analyse water sample for salinity and nutrients. The results from all of the cruises will be synthesised into a coherent picture of the coastal sea's biogeochemistry.

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Modelling

Using the computer lab at the Institute you will explore several numerical models developed by lecturers at the school.

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Gas Exchange

You will deploy state-of-the-art equipment to explore the physics and chemistry behind air-sea gas, heat and momentum exchange.

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Atmospheric Chemistry

You will carry out experiments with Multi-AXis DOAS (MAX-DOAS) using about 5 - 6 small spectrometers looking for NO2, SO2 and formaldehyde in the ambient air.

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