Data Trawler - Survey Details

IN2026_T04    - is a Marine National Facility voyage

Title: Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea Training Alliance Network (CAPSTAN) 06

Period: 2026-09-11 04:00 to 2026-09-23 00:00 Local

Duration: 9.00 days

From: Brisbane To: Lautoka

Region: Queensland Coast; Coral Sea; Pacific Ocean

Ship: Investigator (RV) [details]

Description: The Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea Training Alliance Network (CAPSTAN) is a maritime education and training initiative of CSIRO, the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC). The Program is supported by grants of sea time on RV Investigator (RVI) from the CSIRO Marine National Facility and through funding from the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). There are no specific scientific objectives for this voyage, however the CAPSTAN platform aims to:
· Develop and provide an effective vessel‐based tertiary education experience involving national stakeholders and post-graduate students, by pooling national tertiary teaching expertise and personnel resources;
· Develop a national curriculum to standardise teaching protocols/methods and learning outcomes in conjunction with the new data collection equipment and facilities of the CSIRO research vessel RVI, the Integrated Marine Observatory System and external stakeholders, and;
· Provide and test a multi‐disciplinary research‐based teaching module for marine science postgraduates with opportunities for student mobility and national network development.
In addition to CAPSTAN’s core training objectives, this multidisciplinary voyage will explore:
1. The collection of geological samples of the Loyalty Ridge.
2. Measurement of the biogeochemical and physical properties upstream and downstream of a seamount in the Western Coral Sea.
3. Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) Surveys
4. Investigation into the distribution of microplastics in surface/subsurface water
5. Biodiversity characterisation using eDNA metabarcoding

Leader: Gabriela Semolini Pilo

Projects:

• Investigator National Facility - transit voyage [details] Primary

• Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea Training Network (CAPSTAN) [details] Supplementary

• Building student capacity in marine mammal and seabird observation for marine conservation [details] Piggy-back

• Chumbucket: low tech, high return sampling for phytoplankton diversity [details] Piggy-back

• Deployment of Argo floats including Australian core, deep, and BGC, and floats from international partners [details] Piggy-back

• Deployment of Surface Drifters [details] Piggy-back

• Developing Jonathan: An On-vessel Automated Seabird Detector [details] Piggy-back

• Globalising Marine Biodiversity Observations (GLOMBO): autonomous genomic sampling system [details] Piggy-back