Search

Understanding the risk of collision between tidal stream turbines and marine species is required for environmental impact assessment. Field observations are often limited by sensor capabilities. This study used a laboratory-scale water tank to monitor fine-scale fish behavior near a model of rotating turbine blades. Differences in behavior between three species were investigated: Oryzias latipes, Gnathopogon elongatus, and Rhodeus ocellatus ocellatus. Behavioral response under dark conditions was further investigated for Gnathopogon elongatus, as it showed active behavior near the turbine under bright conditions. 71% of fish actively avoided or swam away from the turbine during bright conditions. Under dark conditions, 92% avoided or swam away; fish approached less frequently and retreated sooner than in bright conditions. Alertness in dark conditions possibly increases due to the inability of fish to visually detect the blades; thus, dark conditions may not be directly linked to a higher collision risk. No striking events occurred which resulted in injury or mortality.

Migration from fresh water to the marine environment is a crucial, transitional stage in the development of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). This study used a combination of acoustic tracking, instrument data, and hydrodynamic modelling to examine behaviour of juvenile salmon (smolts) during their transition from fresh water to the marine environment. The study focuses on a high-energy coastal environment in northern Scotland, which is currently being developed for renewable energy extraction and where there is potential for negative impacts on salmon with energy extraction devices and structures. Thirty-four smolts were captured in the River Wick in Caithness and tagged with acoustic tags transmitting at 69 kHz. The Telemac–Mascaret modelling suite was utilized to construct a three-dimensional model of the study area and surrounding waters to estimate smolt-current interactions during detection times. Timing of migration was linked to low-light conditions, with smolts mainly exiting the river at night and when the moon was below the horizon. The movement of most of the tags conformed with modelled tidal currents and the tracks matched modelled marine tidal patterns. Smolts were detected only on a single tide suggesting that they rapidly cleared the vicinity of the receiver array.

Changes in animal movement and behaviour at fine scales (tens of metres) in immediate proximity to tidal stream turbine structures are largely unknown and have implications for risks of animal collision with turbine blades. This study used upward-facing multibeam echosounder data to detect and track animal movement comprising fish, diving seabirds, and marine mammals. Measurements over spring-neap tidal cycles at a turbine structure (no blades present) are compared to a neighbouring reference area with no structure and comparable conditions, with measurements consecutive in time to maximize comparability.The majority of tracked animals (93.4% around turbine structure and 99.1% without turbine structure) were observed swimming against the flow, with 87.5% and 97.8%, respectively, making ground and showing capability of manoeuvring in tidal stream flow speeds. Track tortuosity increased around the turbine structure compared to the reference site, particularly in the wake and at low flow speeds, indicating animal station-holding or milling behaviour. These data also evidence the benefits of multibeam echosounders to measure animal movement through larger measurement volumes rather than relying on single-beam echosounders to measure animal presence alone, including to avoid large biases overestimating the size of schools swimming against the flow measured by time-in-beam.

D.C., J.M., P.T. and S.W. acknowledge the financial support of the Tidal Stream Industry Energiser project (TIGER), which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg France (Channel) England Programme. A.A. acknowledges the support of NERC through the Industrial Innovation fellowship grant no. NE/R013209/2. D.G., B.S., T.S., D.W., R.W. and B.W. acknowledge EPSRC for supporting part of this work through EP/S000747/1. G.H. and C.S. acknowledge support by the Scottish government-funded Marine Mammal Scientific Support Programme MMSS/002 with additional resources from the Natural Environment Research Council grant nos. NE/R014639/1 and NE/R015007/1. M.L. acknowledges the support of the Smart Efficient Energy Centre (SEEC) at Bangor University, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), administered by the Welsh Government, and the EPSRC METRIC fellowship grant no. (EP/R034664/1). L.M. acknowledges the financial support of an EPSRC PhD studentship award, grant no. EP/R513052/1(18-22). J.McN. acknowledges the financial support of R.Willden’s EPSRC Advanced Fellowship grant no. EP/R007322/1. S.N. acknowledges the support of SEEC (Smart Efficient Energy Centre) at Bangor University, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), administered by the Welsh Government. This review provides a critical, multi-faceted assessment of the practical contribution tidal stream energy can make to the UK and British Channel Islands future energy mix. Evidence is presented that broadly supports the latest national-scale practical resource estimate, of 34 TWh/year, equivalent to 11% of the UK’s current annual electricity demand. The size of the practical resource depends in part on the economic competitiveness of projects. In the UK, 124 MW of prospective tidal stream capacity is currently eligible to bid for subsidy support (MeyGen 1C, 80 MW; PTEC, 30 MW; and Morlais, 14 MW). It is estimated that the installation of this 124 MW would serve to drive down the levelized cost of energy (LCoE), through learning, from its current level of around 240 £/MWh to below 150 £/MWh, based on a mid-range technology learning rate of 17%. Doing so would make tidal stream cost competitive with technologies such as combined cycle gas turbines, biomass and anaerobic digestion. Installing this 124 MW by 2031 would put tidal stream on a trajectory to install the estimated 11.5 GW needed to generate 34 TWh/year by 2050. The cyclic, predictable nature of tidal stream power shows potential to provide additional, whole-system cost benefits. These include reductions in balancing expenditure that are not considered in conventional LCoE estimates. The practical resource is also dependent on environmental constraints. To date, no collisions between animals and turbines have been detected, and only small changes in habitat have been measured. The impacts of large arrays on stratification and predator–prey interaction are projected to be an order of magnitude less than those from climate change, highlighting opportunities for risk retirement. Ongoing field measurements will be important as arrays scale up, given the uncertainty in some environmental and ecological impact models. Based on the findings presented in this review, we recommend that an updated national-scale practical resource study is undertaken that implements high-fidelity, site-specific modelling, with improved model validation from the wide range of field measurements that are now available from the major sites. Quantifying the sensitivity of the practical resource to constraints will be important to establish opportunities for constraint retirement. Quantification of whole-system benefits is necessary to fully understand the value of tidal stream in the energy system. Publisher PDF

ERG11 sequencing of 28 Candida auris clade III isolates revealed the presence of concomitant V125A and F126L substitutions. Heterologous expression of Erg11-V125A/F126L in Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to reduced fluconazole and voriconazole susceptibilities. Generation of single substitution gene variants through site-directed mutagenesis uncovered that F126L primarily contributes to the elevated triazole MICs. A similar, yet diminished pattern of reduced susceptibility was observed with long-tailed triazoles posaconazole and itraconazole for V125A/F126L, F126L, Y132F, and K143R alleles.

There is uncertainty on the ecological effects of tidal stream turbines. Concerns include animal collision with turbine blades, disruption of migratory and foraging behaviour, attraction of animals to prey aggregating around turbines, or conversely displacement of animals from preferred habitat. This study used concurrent ecological and physical measurements to show the predictability of fish school characteristics (presence, school area and height above seabed) in a high energy tidal site across spring/neap, ebb/flood and daily cycles, and how this changed around a turbine structure. The rate of schools and school area per hour increased by 1.74 and 1.75 times respectively around a turbine structure compared to observations under similar conditions without a turbine structure. The largest schools occurred at peak flow speeds and the vertical distribution of schools over the diel cycle was altered around the turbine structure. While predictable attraction or aggregation of prey may increase prey availability and predator foraging efficiency, attraction of predators has the potential to increase animal collision risk. Predictable changes from the installation of turbine structures can be used to estimate cumulative effects on predators at a population level. This study can guide a strategic approach to the monitoring and management of turbines and arrays.

Maintenance and enhancement of peatland carbon storage is a major policy objective towards meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) targets. Management interventions can influence both the storage capacity and the vulnerability of the stock to climate-change induced increases in drought frequency and severity, and incidence of wildfires. Quantification of these interactions is vital in informing best management practice, but is also challenging, given the ephemeral nature of climatic extremes and the usual paucity of high-quality ground-based observations within an area of interest capable of providing the necessary pre-impact and control data.Following a dry and warm spell in spring 2019, a large wildfire burnt approximately >60 km2 of blanket bog and wet heath within the Flow Country peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland, North Scotland. While the Flow Country is a site of global significance currently under consideration for UNESCO World Heritage Site Status, it has also been substantially modified in places by drainage and notably forestry (670 km2) and is now undergoing rapid and large-scale restoration. Serendipitously, the fire scar impacted the whole range of land-uses and occurred in an area actively used for research, and therefore where some baseline datasets were available.The NERC funded FireBlanket project used this opportunity to investigate how land-uses interacted with wildfire in terms of 1) InSAR-derived “bog breathing” patterns exhibited during the 2018 drought 2) immediate and longer-term effects on vegetation communities 3) export and fate of organic carbon from land to ocean. By understanding how different management strategies of forestry and forest-to-bog restoration influence fire risk and damage, we hope to inform decision-making in the future.Our preliminary results show that in near-natural and restored (drain-blocked) blanket bogs, the drought of 2018 led to a rapid surface compression that maintained near-surface moisture until 2019, in turn reducing the severity of the wildfire. In drained and degraded blanket bogs, this mechanical feedback is absent, due to higher bulk density and differences in vegetation assemblages, notably reduced cover of Sphagnum mosses. In those areas, the 2018 drought led to a rapid and sustained loss of moisture in the upper peat layers, associated with higher burn severity and more pronounced fire damage on vegetation. Furthermore, while DOM concentrations increased post-fire in streams receiving water from all burnt areas compared to unburnt ones, the changes were more pronounced in catchments with man-made drains.Whilst further data processing and analysis is still underway, our study currently suggests that restoration is likely to increase wildfire resilience and reduce wildfire severity. When taking management decisions at the landscape scale, strategic re-wetting around vulnerable areas (e.g. highly degraded or undergoing forest-to-bog management leading to large volumes of brash on the ground) may help reduce the risks of occurrence of large catastrophic wildfires, and help minimise the carbon losses associated with these events.

Given the recent trend towards establishing very large marine protected areas (MPAs) and the high potential of these to contribute to global conservation targets, we review outcomes of the last decade of marine conservation research in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), one of the largest MPAs in the world. The BIOT MPA consists of the atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, interspersed with and surrounded by deep oceanic waters. Islands around the atoll rims serve as nesting grounds for sea birds. Extensive and diverse shallow and mesophotic reef habitats provide essential habitat and feeding grounds for all marine life, and the absence of local human impacts may improve recovery after coral bleaching events. Census data have shown recent increases in the abundance of sea turtles, high numbers of nesting seabirds and high fish abundance, at least some of which is linked to the lack of recent harvesting. For example, across the archipelago the annual number of green turtle clutches (Chelonia mydas) is ~ 20,500 and increasing and the number of seabirds is ~ 1 million. Animal tracking studies have shown that some taxa breed and/or forage consistently within the MPA (e.g. some reef fishes, elasmobranchs and seabirds), suggesting the MPA has the potential to provide long-term protection. In contrast, post-nesting green turtles travel up to 4000 km to distant foraging sites, so the protected beaches in the Chagos Archipelago provide a nesting sanctuary for individuals that forage across an ocean basin and several geopolitical borders. Surveys using divers and underwater video systems show high habitat diversity and abundant marine life on all trophic levels. For example, coral cover can be as high as 40–50%. Ecological studies are shedding light on how remote ecosystems function, connect to each other and respond to climate-driven stressors compared to other locations that are more locally impacted. However, important threats to this MPA have been identified, particularly global heating events, and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activity, which considerably impact both reef and pelagic fishes.

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

We are at a crossroads where many nation states, including the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), are committing to increased electricity production from “green energy”, of which tidal stream marine renewable energy is one such resource. However, many questions remain regarding the effects of tidal energy devices on marine wildlife, including seabirds, of which the UK has internationally important numbers. Guidelines are lacking on how best to use both well-established and novel survey methods to assess seabird use of tidal flow areas, leading to a data-rich but information poor (DRIP) situation. This review provides a conceptual framework for assessing the effects of tidal stream energy devices on seabirds, summarises current knowledge and highlights knowledge gaps. Finally, recommendations are given for how best to pursue knowledge on this topic.

In the dynamic environments targeted for marine renewable energy extraction, such as tidal channels, the natural distribution of fish and behavioural impacts of marine renewable energy installations (MREIs) are poorly understood. This study builds on recent methodological developments to reveal the behaviour of fish schools using data collected by a seabed-mounted echosounder deployed in extreme tidal flows and in the wake of a MREI (composed of the foundation of a full-scale tidal stream energy turbine). The results show a significant change (p

Field measurements of the flow in the benthic boundary layer (BBL) of a tidal channel are presented which compare data collected in the wake of a marine renewable energy installation (MREI) with control data representative of the natural conditions. The results show significant flow modification in the wake of the MREI including a reduction in mean velocity, enhanced turbulence, and the breakdown of the natural structure and dynamics of the BBL. This study provides new information relevant to the environmental impact assessment of MREIs and to the design and consenting of marine renewable energy projects.

Funded by University of Aberdeen Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. Grant Number: NE/J004308/1 Marine Collaboration Research Forum

Tidal energy is a renewable resource that can contribute towards meeting growing energy demands, but uncertainties remain about environmental impacts of device installation and operation. Environmental monitoring programs are used to detect and evaluate impacts caused by anthropogenic disturbances and are a mandatory requirement of project operating licenses in the United States. In the United Kingdom, consent conditions require monitoring of any adverse impacts on species of concern. While tidal turbine sites share similar physical characteristics (e.g. strong tidal flows), similarities in their biological characteristics have not been examined. To characterize the generality of biological attributes at tidal energy sites, metrics derived from acoustic backscatter describing temporal and spatial distributions of fish and macrozooplankton at Admiralty Inlet, Washington State and the Fall of Warness, Scotland were compared using t -tests, F -tests, linear regressions, spectral analysis, and extreme value analysis (EVA). EVA was used to characterize metric values that are rare but potentially associated with biological impacts, defined as relevant change as a consequence of human activity. Pelagic nekton densities were similar at both sites, as evidenced by no statistically significant difference in densities, and similar daily density patterns of pelagic nekton between sites. Biological characteristics were similar, suggesting that generic biological monitoring programs could be implemented at these two sites, which would streamline permitting, facilitate site comparison, and enable environmental impact detection associated with tidal energy deployment.

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are ubiquitous in modern consumer electronics. SnO2 is an earth abundant, cheaper alternative to In2O3 as a TCO however, its performance in terms of electrical properties lags behind that of In2O3. Based on the recent discovery of mobility and conductivity enhancements in In2O3 from resonant dopants, we use a combination of state-of-the-art hybrid density functional theory calculations, high resolution photoelectron spectroscopy and semiconductor statistics modelling to understand what the optimal dopant is to maximise performance of SnO2-based TCOs. We demonstrate that Ta is the optimal dopant for high performance SnO2, as it is a resonant dopant which is readily incorporated into SnO2 with the Ta 5d states sitting ~1.4 eV above the conduction band minimum. Experimentally, the electron effective mass of Ta doped SnO2 was shown to be 0.23m0, compared to 0.29m0 seen with conventional Sb doping, explaining its ability to yield higher mobilities and conductivities.

A prototype three-frequency (114, 256, and 410 kHz) colour sidescan sonar system, built by Kongsberg Underwater Mapping Ltd. (Great Yarmouth, UK), was previously described, and preliminary results presented, in Tamsett, McIlvenny, and Watts. The prototype system has subsequently been modified, and in 2017, new data were acquired in a resurvey of the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, North Scotland. An image texture characterisation and image classification exercise demonstrates considerably greater discrimination between different seabed classes in a three-frequency colour sonar image of the seabed, than in a multi-frequency colour image reduced to greyscale display, or in a single-frequency greyscale image, with readily twice the number of classes of seabed discriminated between, in the colour image. The information advantage of colour acoustic imagery over greyscale acoustic imagery is analogous to the information advantage of colour television images over black-and-white television images. A three-frequency colour sonar image contains a theoretical maximum of a factor of 3 times the information in a corresponding greyscale image, for independent seabed responses at the three frequencies. Estimates of the average information per pixel (information entropy) in the colour image, and in corresponding greyscale images, reveal an actual information advantage of colour sonar imagery over greyscale, to be in practice approximately a factor of 2.5, empirically confirming the greater information based utility of three-frequency colour sonar over greyscale sonar. Reference: Tamsett, D., McIlvenny, J., Watts, A. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2016, 4(26).

n-Type transparent conductors (TCs) are key materials in the modern optoelectronics industry. Despite years of research, the development of a high performance p-type TC has lagged far behind that of its n-type counterparts delaying the advent of “transparent electronics” based on fully transparent p-n junctions. Here, we propose the layered oxysulfide [Cu2S2][Sr3Sc2O5] as a structural motif for discovering novel p-type TCs. We have used density functional theory to screen the thermodynamic and dynamical stability and electronic structure of 24 compositions based on this motif, predicting 2 new p-type TCs and 8 other stable systems with semiconductor properties. Following our predictions, we have successfully synthesized our best candidate p-type TC, [Cu2S2][Ba3Sc2O5], which displays structural and optical properties that validate our computational models. It is expected that the design principles emanating from this analysis will move the field closer to the realization of a high figure-of-merit p-type TC.

Active acoustic sensors are widely used in oceanographic and environmental studies. Although many have nominal operating frequencies above the range of marine mammal hearing, they can produce out-of-band sound that may be audible to marine mammals. Acoustic emissions from four active acoustic transducers were characterized and compared to marine mammal hearing thresholds. All four transducers had nominal operating frequencies above the reported upper limit of marine mammal hearing, but produced measurable sound below 160 kHz. A spatial map of the acoustic emissions of each sonar is used to evaluate potential effects on marine mammal hearing when the transducer is continuously operated from a stationary platform. Based on the cumulative sound exposure level metric, the acoustic emissions from the transducers are unlikely to cause temporary threshold shifts in marine mammals, but could affect animal behavior. The extent of audibility is estimated to be, at most, on the order of 100 m.

Rabies is a zoonotic lyssavirus of mammals that is a major public health threat due to the high mortality rate in humans who develop clinical symptoms. In the United States and other developed countries, the main reservoirs are wildlife species. In April 2017, a raccoon tested positive for rabies in Wise County, Virginia, with a second raccoon testing positive in May. Wise County, Virginia, is one of the few counties in western Virginia that is not endemic for raccoon rabies variant virus. Due to this fact, local, state, and federal agencies worked together to prevent and control the outbreak to stop the public health theat. The purpose of this study was to understand how professionals from these various agencies viewed the response efforts to the two rabid raccoons in 2017 and to determine what could be done to improve future responses. A list of responders from the different agencies involved in the outbreak in 2017 was created. Participants were recruited via email and those who agreed to be interviewed were contacted via telephone. Participants were asked a series of 13 questions pertaining to the 2017 outbreak to understand more about the strengths and weaknesses perceived during the outbreak. Of the 11 individuals contacted, six agreed to an interview. Data were analyzed utilizing a three-step qualitative analysis process which included the steps of open coding, audit trail, and axial coding. Staff and partnerships were identified as strengths of the response while funding, community, and region were identified as weaknesses of the response. It is hoped that by identifying different strengths and weaknesses through qualitative analysis this will aid in improving future responses.

High-flow tidal stream environments, targeted for tidal turbine installations, exhibit turbulent features, at fine spatio-temporal scales (metres and seconds), created by site-specific topography and bathymetry. Bed-derived turbulent features (kolk-boils) are thought to have detrimental effects on tidal turbines. Characterisation of kolk-boils is therefore essential to inform turbine reliability, control, and maintenance strategies. It will also improve the understanding of potential ecological interactions with turbines, as marine animals use these sites for foraging. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, imagery offers a novel approach to take precise measurements of kolk-boil characteristics (distribution, presence, and area) at the surface. This study carried out sixty-three UAV surveys within the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, Scotland, UK, over four-day periods in 2016 and 2018. Kolk-boil characteristics were examined against relevant environmental covariates to investigate potential drivers of presence and area. The results show that distribution at the surface could be predicted based on tidal phase, with current velocity significantly influencing presence above 3.0 m/s. The technique can be used to inform turbine development, micro-siting and provide better understanding of environmental implications of turbine operation. Finally, it highlights the suitability of UAVs for capturing rapid fine-scale hydrodynamic data in the absence of in situ measurements.

The growth of the marine renewable energy sector requires the potential effects on marine wildlife to be considered carefully. For this purpose, utilization distributions derived from animal-borne biologging and telemetry data provide accurate information on individual space use. The degree of spatial overlap between potentially vulnerable wildlife such as seabirds and development areas can subsequently be quantified and incorporated into impact assessments and siting decisions. While rich in information, processing and analyses of animal-borne tracking data are often not trivial. There is therefore a need for straightforward and reproducible workflows for this technique to be useful to marine renewables stakeholders. The aim of this study was to develop an analysis workflow to extract utilization distributions from animal-borne biologging and telemetry data explicitly for use in assessment of animal spatial overlap with marine renewable energy development areas. We applied the method to European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) in relation to tidal stream turbines. While shag occurrence in the tidal development area was high (99.4%), there was no overlap (0.14%) with the smaller tidal lease sites within the development area. The method can be applied to any animal-borne bio-tracking datasets and is relevant to stakeholders aiming to quantify environmental effects of marine renewables.

VC International Council for the Exploration of the Sea 2016. James J. Waggitt was funded by a NERC Case studentship supported by OpenHydro Ltd and Marine Scotland Science (NE/J500148/1). Shore-based surveys were funded by a NERC (NE/J004340/1) and a Scottish National Heritage (SNH) grant. FVCOM was funded by a NERC grant (NE/J004316/1). The bathymetry data used in hydrodynamic models (HI 1122 Sanday Sound to Westray Firth) was collected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the UK Civil Hydrography Programme. We wish to thank Christina Bristow, Matthew Finn and Jennifer Norris at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC); Ian Davies at Marine Scotland Science; Gail Davoren, Shaun Fraser, Pauline Goulet, Alex Robbins and Helen Wade for invaluable discussions; Thomas Cornulier, Alex Douglas, James Grecian and Samantha Patrick for their help with statistical analysis; and Jenny Campbell and the Cockram family for assistance during fieldwork.

Acknowledgements: James J. Waggitt was funded by a NERC Case studentship supported by OpenHydro Ltd and Marine Scotland Science (NE/J500148/1). Vessel-based transects were funded by a NERC (NE/J004340/1) and a Scottish National Heritage (SNH) grant. FVCOM modelling was funded by a NERC grant (NE/J004316/1). Marine Scotland Science provided time on the FRV Alba-na-Mara as part as the Marine Collaboration Research Forum (MarCRF). The bathymetry data used in hydrodynamic models (HI 1122 Sanday Sound to Westray Firth) was collected by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) as part of the UK Civil Hydrography Programme. We wish to thank Christina Bristow, Matthew Finn and Jennifer Norris at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC); Marianna Chimienti, Ciaran Cronin, Tim Sykes and Stuart Thomas for performing vessel-based transects; Marine Scotland Science staff Eric Armstrong, Ian Davies, Mike Robertson, Robert Watret and Michael Stewart for their assistance; Shaun Fraser, Pauline Goulet, Alex Robbins, Helen Wade and Jared Wilson for invaluable discussions; Thomas Cornulier, Alex Douglas, James Grecian and Samantha Patrick for their help with statistical analysis; and Gavin Siriwardena, Leigh Torres, Mark Whittingham and Russell Wynn for their constructive comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. APC paid through institutional prepayment scheme

Despite the major advances in n-type transparent conductors (TCs), the scarcity and performance of an equivalent p-type TC has been a stumbling block for the opto-electronics industry for decades. Solid design principles such as the 'chemical modulation of the valence band', where the Cu 3d states mix with the anion 'p' states have allowed for the identification of many Cu(I)-based oxides, chalcogenides and even pnictides. Due to advances in thin film fabrication techniques, the controlled formation of layered materials has become a more facile task allowing new materials such as [Cu2S2][Sr3Sc2O5] to surface as potential candidates. [Cu2S2][Sr3Sc2O5] has been shown to have a wide optical band gap (~3.1eV) and has claims of high hole mobilities. Using chemical intuition for designer cation choice in the perovskite layer ([Sr3Sc2O5]), we have screened 24 variants of this structure type using high throughput density functional theory. Our calculations have uncovered 8 new thermodynamically stable semiconductors, with applications ranging from transparent conductors to photovoltaics. Our predictions have been validated by experimental synthesis of a new p-type TC, with a conductivity superior to all known p-type TCs.

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is a commercially successful transparent conducting oxide with very good electrical (resistivities 85%). These properties coupled with cheap and large-scale deposition on float-glass lines means FTO has found commercial use in, for example, low emissivity windows and solar cells. However, despite its widespread application, a detailed understanding is lacking of the doping and defects in FTO. Recent work [1] has suggested that the fluorine interstitial plays a major role in limiting the conductivity of FTO. Here we present synchrotron radiation high energy x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) of the fluorine 1s core level of FTO films without in situ surface preparation. This probes deeper than standard XPS and shows that the fluorine interstitial is present not just at the surface of the films and is not an artefact of argon ion sputtering for surface preparation.

Despite rapid development of marine renewable energy, relatively little is known of the immediate and future impacts on the surrounding ecosystems. Quantifying the behavior and distribution of animals around marine renewable energy devices is crucial for understanding, predicting, and potentially mitigating any threats posed by these installations. The Flow and Benthic Ecology 4D (FLOWBEC) autonomous seabed platform integrated an Imagenex multibeam echosounder and a Simrad EK60 multifrequency echosounder to monitor marine life in a 120 $^{\circ}$ sector over ranges up to 50 m, seven to eight times per second. Established target detection algorithms fail within MRE sites, due to high levels of backscatter generated by the turbulent physical dynamics, limiting and biasing analysis to only periods of low current speed. This study presents novel algorithms to extract diving seabirds, fish, and fish schools from the intense backscatter caused by turbulent dynamics in flows of 4 m s $^{{-1}}$ . Filtering, detection, and tracking using a modified nearest neighbor algorithm provide robust tracking of animal behavior using the multibeam echosounder. Independent multifrequency target detection is demonstrated using the EK60 with optimally calculated thresholds, scale-sensitive filters, morphological exclusion, and frequency-response characteristics. This provides sensitive and reliable detection throughout the entire water column and at all flow speeds. Dive profiles, depth preferences, predator–prey interactions, and fish schooling behavior can be analyzed, in conjunction with the hydrodynamic impacts of marine renewable energy devices. Coregistration of targets between the acoustic instruments increases the information available, providing quantitative measures including frequency response from the EK60, and target morphology and behavioral interactions from the multibeam echosounder. The analyses draw on deployments at a tidal energy site in Scotland to compare the presence and absence of renewable energy structures across a range of physical and trophic levels over complete spring-neap tidal cycles. These results can be used to inform how animals forage in these sites and whether individuals face collision risks. This quantitative information can de-risk the licensing process and, with a greater mechanistic understanding at demonstration scales, its predictive power could reduce the monitoring required at future arrays.

Plastic pollution in the world’s natural waters is of growing concern and currently receiving significant attention. However, remote sensing of marine plastic litter is still in the developmental stage. Most progress has been made in spectral remote sensing using visible to short-wave infrared wavelengths where optical physics applies. Thermal infrared (TIR) sensing could potentially monitor plastic water pollution but has not been studied in detail. We applied radiative transfer theory to predict TIR sensitivity to changes in the surface fraction of water covered by plastic litter and found that the temperature difference between the water surface and the surroundings controls the TIR signal. Hence, we mapped this difference for various months and times of the day using global SST (sea surface temperature) and t2m (temperature at 2 m height) hourly estimates from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), ERA5. The maps show how SST-t2m difference varied, altering the anticipated effectivity of TIR floating plastic litter remote sensing. We selected several locations of interest to predict the effectivity of TIR sensing of the plastic surface fraction. TIR remote sensing has promising potential and is expected to be more effective in areas with a high air−sea temperature difference.

Interferon regulatory factors (IRF) 3 and 7 in mammals are known to be crucial in regulating the type I interferon (IFN) response to viral infection as part of transcriptional complexes binding to IRF-binding elements (IRF-Es) and interferon stimulatory response elements (ISREs) within IFN and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Here we report the sequencing and characterization of full-length cDNA homologues of rainbow trout (rt)IRF7 and, for the first time in fish, IRF3. RtIRF3 consists of 2127 bp with a 159 bp 5'-UTR-containing two upstream AUGs and a 573 bp 3'-UTR. RtIRF7 was found to be 2055 bp, with a 102 bp 5'-UTR and a 705 bp 3'-UTR. The open reading frames (ORFs) translate into 464 amino acid and 415 amino acid proteins, respectively, each possessing a putative DNA-binding domain (DBD) containing a tryptophan cluster, which is characteristic of all IRF family members. The presence of putative IRF association domain (IAD)s, serine-rich C terminal domains (poorly conserved in trout IRF3), and phylogenetic analysis places the two genes in the IRF3 subfamily. Both genes were found to be upregulated by poly I:C, type I recombinant rainbow trout (r) IFN (second isoform, type I rIFN), type II rIFN (rIFNgamma), LPS, and rIL-1beta in the trout macrophage cell line, RTS-11. Poly I:C and type I rIFN also induced IRF3 and IRF7 expression in a trout fibroblast cell line (RTG-2). Transient transfection of RTG-2 cells with each IRF fused to GFP revealed a predominant cytoplasmic distribution found most intensely around the nucleus and, to a lesser extent, within cell nuclei. Transient transfection of rtIRF3 in the Mx-1-luciferase reporter cell line, RTG-P1, revealed a modest increase in luciferase activity relative to the vehicle control, which was lost in cells over-expressing a DBD-truncated form of rtIRF3. Both full-length and DBD-truncated forms of rtIRF7 increased reporter activity relative to the control, although to a non-significant extent. Electromobility shift assays (EMSAs) did not reveal a specific interaction between each IRF and the ISRE element found in the Mx-1 promoter, although the Mx-1 ISRE bound specifically to endogenous transcriptional complexes. These data support the premise that rtIRF3 and rtIRF7 are important molecules in the regulation of antiviral responses in fish, with the impact of rIFNgamma on rtIRF3/7 expression implying a role for these IRFs in immune processes other than type I IFN-driven antiviral responses.

The drive towards sustainable energy has seen rapid development of marine renewable energy devices, and current efforts are focusing on wave and tidal stream energy. The NERC/DEFRA collaboration FLOWBEC-4D (Flow, Water column & Benthic Ecology 4D) is addressing the lack of knowledge of the environmental and ecological effects of installing and operating large arrays of wave and tidal energy devices. The FLOWBEC sonar platform combines a number of instruments to record information at a range of physical and multi-trophic levels. Data are recorded at a resolution of several measurements per second, for durations of 2 weeks to capture an entire spring-neap tidal cycle. An upward-facing multifrequency Simrad EK60 echosounder (38, 120 and 200 kHz) is synchronized with an upward-facing Imagenex 837B Delta T multibeam sonar (120° × 20° beamwidth, 260 kHz) aligned with the tidal flow. An ADV is used for local current measurements and a fluorometer is used to measure chlorophyll (as a proxy for plankton) and turbidity. The platform is self-contained with no cables or anchors, facilitating rapid deployment and recovery in high-energy sites and flexibility in allowing baseline data to be gathered. Five 2-week deployments were completed in 2012 and 2013 at wave and tidal energy sites, both in the presence and absence of renewable energy structures. These surveys were conducted at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney, UK. Algorithms for noise removal, target detection and target tracking have been written using a combination of LabVIEW, MATLAB and Echoview. Target morphology, behavior and frequency response are used to aid target classification, with concurrent shore-based seabird observations used to ground truth the acoustic data. Using this information, the depth preference and interactions of birds, fish schools and marine mammals with renewable energy structures can be tracked. Seabird and mammal dive profiles, predator-prey interactions and the effect of hydrodynamic processes during foraging events throughout the water column can also be analyzed. These datasets offer insights into how fish, seabirds and marine mammals successfully forage within dynamic marine habitats and also whether individuals face collision risks with tidal stream turbines. Measurements from the subsea platform are complemented by 3D hydrodynamic model data and concurrent shore-based marine X-band radar. This range of concurrent fine-scale information across physical and trophic levels will improve our understanding of how the fine-scale physical influence of currents, waves and turbulence at tidal and wave energy sites affect the behavior of marine wildlife, and how tidal and wave energy devices might alter the behavior of such wildlife. Together, the results from these deployments increase our environmental understanding of the physical and ecological effects of installing and operating marine renewable energy devices. These results can be used to guide marine spatial planning, device design, licensing and operation, as individual devices are scaled up to arrays and new sites are considered. The combination of our current technology and analytical approach can help to de-risk the licensing process by providing a higher level of certainty about the behavior of a range of mobile marine species in high energy environments. It is likely that this approach will lead to greater mechanistic understanding of how and why mobile predators use these high energy areas for foraging. If a fuller understanding and quantification can be achieved at single demonstration scales, and these are found to be similar, then the predictive power of the outcomes might lead to a wider strategic approach to monitoring and possibly lead to a reduction in the level of monitoring required at each commercial site.

The advance of tidal energy technologies has created new demands for active acoustic monitoring in highly dynamic marine environments. An innovative data collection approach using the FLOWBEC multi-instrument platform has been developed to acoustically observe turbulence and ecological interactions in the challenging environments around turbine installations in the UK. Standard processing approaches for echosounder data are unsuitable in these sites because of the extreme variability in acoustic conditions due to strong tidal flows and complex wind-wave interactions. Novel techniques for identifying ecological targets (fish, diving seabirds, and marine mammals) and characterising the physical conditions have been developed which are functional even during extreme turbulence. Reliable target identification is achieved using scale-sensitive filtering, morphological characterization, and multifrequency analysis of EK60 echosounder data. Combining results with synchronized multibeam data and other observations gives new oceanographic and ecological insights into these environments. This study contributes novel methodological and processing concepts for acoustic analysis in challenging sites of emerging industrial importance. The results provide vital observations on the behaviour of marine species with clear applications for the analysis of environmental impacts of marine renewable energy technologies.

Mapping the density and distribution of kelp beds and assessing change over yearly cycles are important objectives for coastal oceanography. The intelligent, position-aware, holonomic ROV (iROV) SeaBiscuit has been designed specifically for this nearshore 3D mapping application. With the aim of providing high-usability maps on a budget, SeaBiscuit fuses the data from two complementary sonars to explore and map the nearshore. Holonomic motion in the horizontal plane and a streamlined profile designed to aid station-keeping provide the high degree of manoeuvrability required to operate in this complex environment. The orthogonal arrangement of a forward-facing multibeam sonar and a 360 degree scanning sonar provide increased coverage and allow 3D maps to be generated in-transit using the holonomic capabilities of the vehicle. Successful field trials saw the mapping of a piling dock before the surveys moved to the kelp beds of British Columbia, Canada. SeaBiscuit was initially calibrated and tested on an 'artificial' kelp bed of kelp stipes transplanted to a sheltered but open-water real world environment. The first successful open ocean kelp bed maps were gathered in 2011. It was possible to identify clusters of stipes and to convert this into a measure of biomass across the kelp bed.

The drive towards sustainable energy has seen rapid development of marine renewable energy devices, and current efforts are focusing on wave and tidal structures. However, little is known of the effect of installing and operating these devices. The NERC/DEFRA collaboration FLOWBEC-4D (Flow, Water column & Benthic Ecology 4D) is investigating these effects at test sites in Orkney (EMEC) and Cornwall (Wave Hub), combining the data from bird observations, shore-based marine X-band radar surveys of wave and current data, detailed modelling of the flow and water column, passive acoustic monitoring and the deployment of a remote-sensing sonar platform. The latter contains a multibeam imager, whose design and operation will be presented in this talk. The first field deployments are planned for May-July 2012 with first underwater tests earlier in spring. Self-contained and intended to be deployed for 2 weeks at a time with short turnaround times between deployments, this platform is based on the Imagenex Delta T multibeam sonar (260 kHz) with associated power supplies, instrumentation and data recording devices. The sonar faces vertically upwards with the multibeam swath orientated parallel to the tidal flow. Versatile duty cycling allows acoustic snapshots at specific intervals of interest. Range and volume backscatter intensity measurements are used to reconstruct the evolution of the environment around the sonar. This allows imaging of targets (e.g. fish and diving seabirds) interacting with the marine renewable energy device of interest and moving in the tidal flow.