 Through a vibrant partnership between the South Australian Research and Development Institute and Flinders University, scientists and students are discovering the numerous ways ocean ecosystems function and the potential impact of climate change. Can the cutting-edge research by Sadi and Flinders University help secure the future of Australia's southern marine environment? The seaside suburb of West Beach in Adelaide is home to Sadi's Aquatic Sciences Centre. In these purpose-built facilities, scientists and staff operate the Southern Australian Integrated Marine Observing System. Samos is one of five coastal nodes, but that'll be growing to a Tassimos, so an additional node there. Each of the nodes produces data for their particular region and seeks to answer research questions by providing the data unique to the region. So in our case, it's our $320 million a year fisheries. Platforms include the Nagerina, Sadi's vessel. There we put moorings in the water for periods of three to five, six months. Gliders, which move up and down through the water column sampling and again sending data back to base low of our satellites. And systems which involve seawater looking at phytoplankton, zooplankton, nutrients, chemistry, so forth. By studying the ecology of an endangered species, like the Australian sea lion, biologists gain a deeper understanding of species interaction in the wider marine environment. We can attach devices to these animals and they can go out and sample the physical oceanography in these areas, which we most readily need information about. And these are areas where there's greatest production and food availability and where there's a lot of ecological interactions. Instruments have got more advanced technologically with time. We've been able to add additional sensors to them. We've got devices which measure at oceanographic level conductivity, so salinity and temperature. Physical oceanography is vital to Samos. Sean Burns and Dr Mark Jubell are graduates of Flinders University and now work at Sadi as professional oceanographers. I definitely enjoyed staying at Flinders. I found it was a great environment. I personally feel that if I hadn't been at Flinders and done the work that I did, I probably wouldn't be where I am now really. The glider works on buoyancy. It purely works on pumping water in and out to change its density, which allows it to dive and climb through the water column. The glider that's active for a month can perform up to 3,000 samples. Temperatures, salinity, fluorescence. I've been employed to research more of the oceanography and ecology of Spetsigolf and that project's directed at understanding and developing the capability of fisheries and the sustainability of fisheries and agriculture in Spetsigolf. We use a number of instruments. These include CTDs, which measure conductivity, temperature and depth through a pressure sensor. And usually we attach these devices to a mooring frame deployed either on the bottom or at a certain depth in the water column. So we go out into the field using ships. We deploy these mooring frames. This brings us back in the real-time data that we can then use to have a look, understand the ecology and the physical structure of the water column. And then we use that data then to help calibrate and develop models to simulate those processes. Flinders University provides world-class opportunities for students to prepare them for their future roles in the scientific community. Students step outside the classroom to conduct fieldwork with lecturers and Saudi scientists. My role is mainly to lecture second-year topics and sergers, looking at marine biology, experimental design and statistics. Phytoplankton is very important in the framework of SIMOS. Also, the good indicators of climate change, because they have a very short life cycle, they will react straight away to any changes in their environment. With my involvement at Flinders University, I have currently one PhD student and two HONOR students that come on the negrine sampling with us. In terms of their experience, it's really beneficial for them to come with us because you get access to the negrine for sampling, but also to a wide range of equipment. What I'm doing is putting an instrument, a probe in at the top and dropping it down essentially just in a column of water to see how it varies with depth, looking for variation in salinity, variation in temperature and bioluminescence. The most important thing is getting some personal contact with professional scientists and getting a sense of the human side of the work. The real personal encouragement or reflection on what it's like to work towards being a career scientist has just been invaluable. That's the thing I've probably valued the most. The data that we collect also underpins a lot of the other projects that Sadi undertakes, like wild fisheries, rock lobster research. So it has quite far-reaching usage and applications for other areas of the aquatic sciences as well. The teaching research that we can contribute to at Flinders and the marine science expertise that Flinders University staff have that they can bring to the project here, I think works really well. The South Australian Integrated Marine Observing System provides an extraordinary amount of information integral to understanding marine ecosystems. Students developing their skills alongside professionals will help to ensure that Australia's marine environment will continue to benefit from world-class science in the years to come. The partnership that we have between Sadi and Flinders is extremely important, certainly to the oceanography program. Well, it's a really interesting time for someone studying environmental science. Having been a student at Flinders University in public sector management, that has given me a really good background to working within government. Every day is a new challenge in oceanography. We're continuously exploring and learning new things about the ocean. I do what I'm passionate about, so I think it's a perfect job for me.