Falcon Spirit

Work in marine science with the University of Plymouth is underpinned by access to a fully-equipped fleet of boats, the latest instrumentation, specialist software and, from 2014-15, a new £4.65 million Marine Station that will provide a base for fieldwork.

Pride of place in our fleet goes to RV Falcon Spirit, a 15 metre catamaran which is used, along with smaller boats, for group practicals and individual project work spanning collection of seabed and water samples and acquisition of hydrographic survey and oceanographic datasets.

Our instrumentation includes the latest oceanographic and hydrographic survey sensors (including an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder, and towed undulating Conductivity-Temperature-depth system), an automatic weather station and specialist software for data analysis and visualisation.