Researcher Profile: Dr Vanessa Lucieer
By Jamie Menzies
Dr Vanessa Lucieer working on some multibeam swath data.
For National Science Week, I have been chatting to the scientists on board the RV Investigator to find out about the work they do.
Meet Dr Vanessa Lucieer, a Senior Lecturer and Marine Spatial Analyst at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania.
Can you describe what your job involves on board the RV Investigator?
I will be translating the multibeam SONAR data into maps for Parks Australia to be used to manage the Coral Sea Marine Park. Only 4% of this area has been mapped, so we will be adding to the content for this region and are hoping to understand the patterns of geomorphology around the seamounts.
What’s your favourite thing about your job?
Exploration. Seeing seamounts for the first time that have never been mapped before doesn’t get boring – even after 20 years.
What has been your most memorable experience at sea?
Every voyage has something really special about it. I think I’ve developed a soft spot for seamounts and underwater volcanoes. A voyage on RV Tangaroa to White Island in New Zealand in 2018 was memorable, seeing bubbles and hot water breaking out of the seabed caused by the active volcano.
What inspired you to do this role?
I’m an “accidental scientist” and didn’t know this job existed when I was in high school. I’ve always been interested in maps, and in 1999 I began working on mapping offshore islands in
Tasmania and fell into a job. I was the only person in the institute with specific seafloor mapping experience at a time when multibeam technology was emerging.
How many science cruises have you participated in?
I did 12 years of small vessel inshore cruises and eight large vessel cruises. This is my third voyage on RV Investigator.
This is the perfect job for someone who…
Still believes in ‘the age of exploration’. Some people think there is nothing left to discover, but the data gathered on this voyage proves otherwise.
An example of the bathymetry data that Dr Lucieer uses in her work. This image shows the first seamount that was sampled on this voyage along with the positions of three dredge sites. Credit: Phil Vandenbossche (CSIRO) and Dr Robin Beaman (James Cook University).