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62 st / October 2015 www.sea-technology.com Southern Ocean Absorbs More Carbon Dioxide Since 2002, the Southern Ocean has been removing more carbon diox- ide from the atmosphere, according to two new studies, American Geophysi- cal Union announced. This is contrary to previous evidence suggesting that the Southern Ocean carbon dioxide sink was weakening. The global oceans are an important sink for human-released carbon diox- ide, absorbing nearly a quarter of the total carbon dioxide emissions every year. Of all ocean regions, the Southern Ocean below the 35th parallel South plays a particularly vital role. Study on Phoenix Islands Coral Reefs A research team led by the New England Aquarium (NEAQ) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have embarked on a 6,000-mi. expedition to one of the most remote places on Earth—the Phoenix Islands in the central Pacifc Ocean. Researchers will investigate the combined effects of climate change and human activity on these vast coral reef ecosystems and the diversity of life they sustain. The team will study how El Niño is affecting the conditions of the reefs, as well as the health and viability of the reef-building corals, how the region's once plentiful shark population is re- covering from shark fnning activity, and how disintegrating shipwrecks are affecting marine life in the Phoenix Is- lands Protected Area. iXBlue Positioning System For Neutrino Research iXBlue has provided the CPPM research center, based in Marseille, France, a full positioning system for their security and precision require- ments for underwater studies. CPPM observes the cosmos by de- tecting highly energetic elementary par- ticles called "neutrinos". Those particles are the only witness of violent cosmic phenomena, and when crossing the earth, they produce a charged particle which emits a fash of bluish light when penetrating into the sea. The center is deploying subsea telescopes to observe those fashes underwater. Requiring a light pollution-free en- vironment, the deployment is made at a depth of 2,500 m. The telescopes are made of several optical modules mounted on tens of mooring lines. In order to set them up correctly and cali- brate the instruments, a highly secure and extremely precise subsea position- ing system is necessary. iXBlue provided CPPM with one low-frequency RAMSES 6000 for the acoustic positioning of the lines and ROV; one HYDRINS (INS) to enhance the vessel position; one MT391 tran- sponder to position the ROV during the operations; four RTA61 releasable tran- sponders to make up the LBL feld; two RTA61 releasable transponders to con- trol the deployment of the line; RAMSES REPLAY post-processing software; and a remote control. Adapting Bluefn U-4000 For Benthic Mapping The Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technol- ocean research