Today I had a conversation with the senior numerical ecologist at the CPR survey and this whole process is fascinating.

Each plankton recorder is boxed up and sent to some port in the world, where it is attached to a ship that has a regular route. The plankton is collected, then boxed up and sent back to Plymouth where a team of 12 analysts observe and tag the individual plankton by hand. Thousands at a time, recorded by hand!

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The survey team interpret the data based on their knowledge of plankton behaviours, such as how phytoplankton act at this time of year, at this buoyancy, at this ocean temperature, etc. It takes extraordinarily complex knowledge to understand what to expect and what to look for, and I am out of my depth(!)

I love these complex projects, but I often feel overwhelmed by how amazing human beings are. The labour, expertise and competence is mind-boggling.

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This morning I met a staff member from the Irish Marine Institute, who use data from the Continuous Plankton Recorder to estimate fish numbers and to locate algal blooms. It was a fascinating conversation.

The timing of this project is really rich too, as they are very keen to understand the populations of zooplankton in Irish waters, and they have offered lots of resources (surveys, papers, records). I will be using some of their data in my artwork.

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Following my earlier contact, The Marine Institute of Ireland sent me a big bank of academic papers last week that document plankton numbers in the north Atlantic and the Irish Sea.

Although they are too technical for me, the weighted measures used on the data, the methods and the results are fascinating. They show how human-led climate change is having an adverse effect on plankton numbers across this area, although there is a small increase in diversity of zooplankton.

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These are the types of climate stories that never really make headlines, because the research is too complex. They don't make good news, but they are the most important stories.

As an artist, this is also hard to present. I can make an artwork that tangles up all this complexity, but in my experience this often leads to really confusing or overly cerebral art. Although that type of work has a value, I try to be a little more 'pop' in my work.

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One human story that I've been introduced to is that the technicians who analyse plankton numbers in the CPR lab in Plymouth, UK, are mostly nearing retirement. Currently there are 12 technicians working there.

There are only a couple of younger staff trawling through thousands of microscopic images of plankton, hand-tagging each one. It is highly skilled, technical work. Without training new technicians, the CPR data analysis will slow down or stop completely.

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I often think about audience at this stage. I once saw Suzie Quatro give an interview on TV where she said the hardest gigs to play were the bars she played when she was young, with only one or two people leering at her. If she could reach them, then 60,000 people at a festival was easy.

My parents are intelligent, but always struggle with the complexity of climate science. They are my target audience. If I can help them understand what the CPR tells us, I'm sure I'll make something good.

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I need to know a little more about the Continuous Plankton Recorder technicians in Plymouth, and am now looking into how I can visit there, ideally in the next few weeks.

I'm also going to visit the Irish Marine Institute, because a lot more comes of being on-site than of reading from a distance.

(reading these posts back and I notice what a wriggly path these projects can bring me on – and I just drift around like plankton in a current)

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Alister Hardy was a marine biologist and also an artist. He travelled on the RRS Discovery in 1925-27, and it was there he invented the continuous plankton recorder.

His paintings and drawings of aquatic critters are really alive. Later in life he became a noted scholar in religious experiences, which might seem like a bit of a leap in another direction, but it makes sense to me.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alister_…

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British marine biologist (1896–1985)

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

Since I started this project, I have been reading a lot of moral philosophy and a little theology. I find this coincidence a little spooky.

Last week, a friend @mrvi said that the ocean is a place that invites us to forget our hubris, because it is too big and awesome. I agree, and this is why the leap from plankton to religious experience makes sense to me.

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I've arranged a visit to Plymouth later this month to visit the laboratory where they analyse plankton samples, and the workshop where they make CPR devices.

After arranging this, I went looking for a copy of Hardy's out-of-press book about Plankton, which he both wrote and illustrated, and found a used copy in a booksellers online. I was going to order it, but I looked up the address and it's less than an hour away from Plymouth. So I'll go and get it in person.

Another odd coincidence.

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I got another of Alister Hardy's books, 'Great Waters', from the library and it's a precious object. I'm excited to read it.

In the introduction it references the 'Reports from the RRS Discovery' series and I went looking online. I found out that the entire 32 volumes, published between 1931 and 1964, were scanned and put online in 2008!

I know there is a lot of negativity about the internet these days, but this type of resource is why I love the world wide web: biodiversitylibrary.org/biblio…

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I'm still playing with materials while doing all this research.

My thoughts are still around building some kind of tension-based artwork, and I've been experimenting with creating tension on a cello string using a linear actuator. I tried fishing wire for obvious material reasons, but realised that it's not durable enough to stretch again and again. So I've gone back to musical instrument strings.

Here's a test of an actuator increasing/decreasing tension over a water tank.

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Frustratingly, Hardy has cut his journal entries on the first Continuous Plankton Recorder, which is what I hoped to find:

'My journal at this point goes on to record the first trial to be made with an apparatus which I have called the continuous plankton recorder...I shall not record all these trials, but devote a section to them where I describe the machine.'

So I will have to dig further. Maybe that journal still exists somewhere.

I'll continue the book though, it's a great read!

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