Oceans of Learning: Jump in for World Oceans Day 2022!

We are celebrating our seas this World Oceans Day (8 June) with the Marine Institute's Oceans of Learning series.

Jump aboard and explore Ireland’s marine research vessels – the RV Celtic Voyager and RV Celtic Explorer, and Ireland’s new research vessel the RV Tom Crean. Discover more about ocean exploration, from legendary Irish explorers of the past to modern scientists surveying our seas today.

All the resources are here and you can see some of the highlights below!

Science at sea

The RV Celtic Voyager was Ireland's first modern research vessel. Over the last 25 years, the Celtic Voyager has completed more than 600 surveys! The RV Celtic Explorer is 65 metres long, and is at sea for over 300 days of the year.

Click here to go on a virtual tour of the RV Celtic Explorer

You can learn how to draw the RV Celtic Voyager here!

Meet some of the scientists on board the vessels here.

And try this fun word search all about marine life

Sea our Discoveries

Scientific surveys on Ireland's marine research vessels have resulted in many exciting discoveries - from deep-water shark nurseries, cold-water coral reefs, to hydrothermal vents in the mid-Atlantic. The Marine institute’s underwater robot, ROV Holland 1, enables scientists to explore our deep sea.

You can see it in action in the video above. And, you can click here to download a fact sheet you can share with your class or group.

Click here to to download a colouring sheet featuring the ROV beneath the waves.

And if you want to draw the ROV yourself, there is a great video showing you how to make your own - Click here to watch the art lesson!

RV Tom Crean

In 2022, the RV Tom Crean will join Ireland's marine research fleet. The 52.8 metre vessel will provide a year round service for fisheries surveys, seabed mapping and deep water surveys in the Atlantic.

You can watch the vessel being built and dipping its toes in the water HERE!

Download a fact sheet on how RV Tom Crean and other vessels explore the ocean HERE!

And why not test yourself...click here to try the crossword puzzle.

Be inspired

Ireland's new research vessel is named after Antarctic adventurer, Tom Crean, from Co Kerry. And the ROV Holland 1 was named after County Clare native, John Philip Holland, who invented the modern submarine in 1900.

Be inspired by Ireland’s great explorers, scientist and inventors of the past, and some of the ships that have sailed our seas.

Find out more about them with these fact sheets:

Ireland's Great Marine Explorers

Ireland's Great Marine Scientists

Ireland's Great Maritime Inventors

And learn more about the amazing ships that carried the explorers and scientists here...