RV Aranda during the MemoBaltic expedition. Photo Credit: Ilkka Lastumäki, Syke. Can microplastics help us understand the long-term impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems? The MemoBaltic project, funded through the second AQUARIUS Transnational Access Funding Call, is exploring this question by introducing the novel concept of microplastics as "living archives" that preserve evidence of…

Bernadette Ní Chonghaile, AQUARIUS Project Manager at the EGU stand. Credit: Seascape Belgium. From 3-8 May, AQUARIUS was in Vienna for the European Geoscience Union General Assembly (EGU) 2026, the largest geosciences conference in Europe, bringing together around 20,000 scientists across ocean, Earth, planetary and space sciences. At the AQUARIUS stand, the team presented the project’s work…

Utö-Marine-and-Atmospheric-Research-Station. Funded under the first AQUARIUS Call, the BASEVOC project ran from April to September 2025 with the aim of enhancing understanding of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the marine atmosphere. Coordinated by the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with Lund University, and GEOMAR, the project focused on the role of biologically derived trace gases in…

AQUARIUS was promoted at Oceanology International 2026 (OI 2026), held from 10–12 March 2026 at ExCeL London. Our partners Dick Schaap and Carlos Barrera highlighted the AQUARIUS data management work and the training opportunities for early-career researchers and technicians. Dick Schaap, managing director of MARIS, and AQUARIUS Work Package 6 Lead on Data Management and…

Athens has long been a place where ideas shape the future and it was in this historic setting that the AQUARIUS consortium met for its second General Assembly, hosted by The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR). While the meeting kicked-off on 3 March, for some partners, the work had already begun. Prior to the…

Oceanographer and Early Career Researcher Inan Ilkay Rodrigo shares his experience at the SOCIB Glider Facility. While field deployments are often the highlight of glider training, Inan’s stay coincided with two severe back-to-back storm events, with wave heights reaching 5.5 m 🌪️🌊. Under these conditions, ship based operations were not possible. Despite this, the week…

This October, AQUARIUS delivered a hands-on training opportunity for hydrographic surveyors and seabed mappers in collaboration with HydroOctave and INFOMAR. Hosted aboard the Marine Institute’s state-of-the-art research vessel Tom Crean, the programme provided participants with the rare opportunity of learning at sea while working directly with industry-standard multibeam echosounder (MBES) systems.   The training programme…

Phycotoxins pose a serious threat to human and animal health, as they can build up in shellfish and fish and cause poisoning when consumed. In humans, they can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms as well as neurological effects. These toxins cannot be removed by cooking or freezing, making prevention and early monitoring essential. They are…

Our 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 on the Second AQUARIUS Transnational Access Funding Call was a success! 💻 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻? 𝗡𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺! 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗤&𝗔. 📌 Here’s a quick recap of what we covered: • An overview of the Second AQUARIUS Funding Call • A guided tour of the…

Project partners Marine Institute and Seascape Belgium represented AQUARIUS at the All Atlantic Forum (Brussels, Belgium) on 25-26 September 2025, to promote project and the 2nd AQUARIUS Transnational Access Funding Call. The event brought together this inspiring and welcoming community dedicated to advancing ocean science, innovation, and cooperation from pole to pole.   Bernadette Ní Conghaile…

AQUARIUS was represented by Frank Armstrong from the Marine Institute (Galway, Ireland - project coordinator) at the ICES Annual Science Conference, to promote the 2nd AQUARIUS Transnational Access Funding Call. The event is a flagship event of ICES, bringing together marine scientists from around the world to share innovative research and ideas, and build lasting…

The second AQUARIUS Transnational Access Funding Call opened on 2 September and will remain open until 28 October 2025. To support applicants, AQUARIUS is offering a webinar to inform participants about the updates to this Call’s eligibility criteria and give a demo of the Transnational Access Platform (TAP), the online tool where applications are submitted. …