Facilities and Services
PMSP has a range of state-of-the-art facilities from major equipment items such as sea-going research vessels to national assets like the National Marine Biological Library. Many of these perform key roles in the NERC core strategic research programme Oceans 2025 as well as providing services for other research organisations around the UK and internationally.
Research Vessels
The PMSP marine research facilities include a wide range of research and training vessels and associated research and survey equipment suitable for coastal and estuarine operation.
Ocean and Coastal Research Equipment
Within PMSP we have the ability to sample at the micro and macro levels from plankton to larger animals and fish. Sampling equipment held at PML, MBA and the University of Plymouth includes: Van Veen, Shipek and a range of day grabs; box corers including a 0.5 metre drop corer and gravity corer; beam and otter trawls; agassiz and naturalist dredges; a range of plankton nets; salinometers and a water sampling rosette. A variety of other sampling equipment is available for water, sediments and chemicals as well as river and pond sampling equipment.
Laboratory Facilities
PMSP laboratories are equipped to sustain the very latest approaches in marine microbial and molecular biosciences with a large amount of specialised equipment including advanced microscopy and imaging and extensive molecular facilities.
Conference facilities
Plymouth and PMSP in particular host a number of national and international conferences each year. Partners have a range of conference and meeting facilities and associated catering and accommodation services to suit a variety of needs.
Seawater Systems
PMSP have modern wet laboratory facilities which allow virtually any aquatic environment to be created under laboratory controlled conditions.
Plankton and Algae
PMSP have a range of expertise in plankton focused research and taxonomy. The Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science operates the world-wide Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey and the MBA hosts the Plymouth Culture Collection of algae and phytoplankton.
Flow Cytometry
Scientists at PML have been involved with the development of flow cytometry for marine science applications for a number of years including the development of specialist equipment.
Satellite Remote Sensing
PML house world-class analytical facilities including the latest systems for measuring and calibrating in-water optical properties for airborne and satellite remote sensing. Remote sensing data processing and analysis is undertaken at PML in support of academic research, government agencies and commercial projects.
Marine Optics
Over the last 20 years PML has built up substantial experience in the field of bio-optical oceanography, offering a significant and powerful supplement to conventional sampling surveys by providing synoptic observations of the entire coastal zone through satellite remote sensing of ocean colour (chlorophyll concentrations).
Biomedicine and Hyperbaric Medicine
The Diving Diseases Research Centre is one of the largest hyperbaric medical units in the UK. It is the only facility in the UK with four chambers for human occupancy. It is also the only hyperbaric facility with personnel committed solely to research to complement the staff committed to patient treatments.
Find out more >Coastal Engineering
The University of Plymouth The Coastal Engineering Research Group (CERG) specialise in field experimentation, instrument design and laboratory modelling, numerical modelling and theoretical analysis. They have a range of state-of-the- art facilities including a Wave Flume, Acoustic Wave and Current Profiler (AWAC), Trimble 5800 kit, ARGUS Cameras and a High Performance Computer.
Diving
The University of Plymouth Diving and Marine Centre is the biggest university based HSE school in the UK.
Computing
PMSP partner organisations have fully integrated Unix and Windows network systems with data storage, email and webmail. The Faculty of Technology operate a High Performance Computing cluster for advanced computational work. This currently has 88 processors and supports parallel FORTRAN and C with associated scientific and statistical libraries. The cluster is accessible to members of CERG, who are one of the main users of the facility.
The National Marine Biological Library (NMBL)
The MBA hosts the National Marine Biological Library (NMBL), one of the largest libraries in the world specializing in marine life and environmental sciences and a premier source of marine biological information.
Ship Simulator
The University of Plymouth School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences is equipped with a state-of-the-art Ship Simulator which allows students to experience the atmosphere of a ships bridge as it navigates the seas and harbours of the world.
Through carefully-planned exercises in locations such as the English Channel, Sydney Harbour and Plymouth Sound itself, students are guided through the challenge of learning coastal navigation and collision avoidance.
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