He is one of the world's most cited climate scientists and is part of the research collaboration that defined the term 'marine heatwave', but after 35 years at SAMS Prof. Mike Burrows is sailing into retirement. In this special episode, host Euan Paterson sits down with Prof. Burrows to find out how his research has been guided by the theme of climate change and why ocean temperature is changing the distribution of marine species. We also hear a confession of how he almost lost a new company...

You might not have heard of The Ellett Line, but it's one of the most important and influential projects in ocean science today. A series of data points in the Atlantic between Scotland and Iceland, The Ellett Line is visited by a research ship every two years to collect data from equipment at each of these points. More than 50 years since it was established, The Ellett Line has given scientists a foundation of knowledge and a unique insight into how large scale ocean currents are affec...

In a very special episode of the SAMS Ocean Explorer podcast, recorded at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026 in Glasgow, we discuss the current state of ocean research as it navigates reductions in funding while facing an urgent demand for new knowledge. We explore the impact of U.S. federal government cuts to environmental science and ask: Can scientists be political? What actions are needed to address the challenges of climate change? What might the future hold for ocean science? And, is Scotl...

Like a giant carbon sponge, the ocean has been absorbing much of the excess carbon dioxide humans have produced - but for how long can that last? While we see the effects of climate change more clearly on land, the impact on our ocean is less obvious. In this episode, guests Dr Robyn Tuerena and Dr Clare Johnson of SAMS discuss how their latest research project, C-STREAMS, is measuring changes in the ocean carbon cycle and what this might mean for our climate. The Ocean Explorer podcast...

The term 'robotics' is fairly wide reaching. From amateur enthusiasts to teams of developers working on the next ingenious idea, there are many applications too. Environmental scientists are excited about a new-found capability in environmental monitoring. Surveying an area of land or sea that would previously have taken days - even many weeks - can now be done in minutes, thanks to autonomous vehicles and their hi-tech payloads of cameras and sensors. In this episode, Dr Niall Burnside...

Marine restoration is the helping hand that nature needs in the battle against biodiversity loss and also a way to offset human impacts in the ocean. But the benefits can be more than ecological. In this episode, we welcome Peter Watson of SSEN Transmission, the company responsible for laying new power cables on our seabed as part of the de-carbonising of our energy grid. There's much more it wants to do, beyond rebuilding the energy infrastructure, with a little help from science. Pete...

With a global human population in excess of eight billion, governments and planners are looking to aquaculture to provide food security in a sustainable way. But this is a diverse global industry that comes in many forms, with various societal and ecological challenges. In this episode, two of the academics behind a highly-rated aquaculture Masters Degree, ACES, reflect on 10 years of the programme, designed to train the industry and academic leaders of the future. Profs. E...

Oceanographers spend a lot of time exploring the deep sea, but what is it really like taking measurements in the middle of the ocean and how is it done? In this episode real-life Octonauts, Drs Neil Fraser and Lewis Drysdale, explain to Euan how detailed ocean observations give us an insight into the changing climate. They also describe how the latest technology has become a game changer in the quest for more data, more quickly as we seek more accurate climate forecasts. The Ocean Explo...

Images of a seahorse clutching a cotton bud, or a marine mammal choking on a plastic bag provoke shocking and saddening reactions - but how much change is made as a result? As they discover a new plastic threat to mangrove habitats on the Ghanaian coast, SAMS scientists Prof. Bhavani Narayanaswamy and Dr Geslaine Lemos Concalves explain the extent of plastic pollution in our ocean and what we can do to mitigate some of the worst impacts. Find out how plastic has reached every corner of the oc...

A discovery in the dark depths of the Pacific Ocean has been challenging the scientific consensus of how oxygen is produced and has even called into question how life on Earth began. Photosynthetic organisms like plants and algae use energy from sunlight to create the planet’s oxygen. But new evidence published by Prof. Andrew Sweetman and collaborators, including his former PhD student Dr Danielle de Jonge, has shown how oxygen is also produced in complete darkness at the seafloor 4,000 metr...