RV ''Investigator'' is an Australian marine research vessel which was designed by RALion (joint venture between Robert Allan Ltd. and Alion Science and Technology). It was constructed in

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and is owned and managed by the

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

(CSIRO), through Australia's Marine National Facility, with its operations funded by the Australian Government to undertake

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

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and

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

research. In May 2009 the Australian Government allocated A$120 million for a new ocean-going research vessel to replace the 1972 built RV ''Southern Surveyor'', which has served as the principal research ship for Australia's Marine National Facility since 1988. RV ''Investigator'' was transferred from Sembawang Shipyard to the delivery crew on 5 August 2014 for pre-departure testing and setup. The vessel arrived at its home port of

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on 9 September 2014 and was officially launched on 12 December 2014.

Specifications

The RV ''Investigator'' is able to accommodate up to 40 scientists, go to sea for up to 60 days at a time and spend up to 300 days of the year at sea on research voyages. Operating costs are estimated to be $140,000 per day. Special features of the ship are a "gondola", similar to a winged keel, mounted 1.2 m below the hull, and two drop keels (which can be lowered to a maximum of 4m below the hull), to carry scientific instruments below the layer of

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created by the movement of the ship’s hull through the water. Such instrumentation includes acoustic mappers, a

pelagic sediment Pelagic sediment or pelagite is a fine-grained sediment that accumulates as the result of the settling of particles to the floor of the open ocean, far from land. These particles consist primarily of either the microscopic, calcareous or siliceo ...

profiler to produce maps of the sea floor, and 2 Acoustic Doppler current profilers. The hull and the machinery of the ship have been designed to operate as quietly as possible to enhance its scientific capabilities.

Notable works

In November 2020, the RV ''Investigator'' front camera captured a green meteor entering the atmosphere and produces a clear video of this rare phenomenon. The meteor footage was captured in the southern coast of Tasmania.

References

External links

* Research vessels of Australia 2013 ships CSIRO {{Ocean-stub