Oceanography Malta Group at UM

OMRG is happy to announce the winners of our World Ocean Day Competition 2026!

Congratulations to the students of the Mediterranean College of Sport for being awarded First Place for their outstanding video submission. 🎉

We are delighted to see young people engaging with oceanography, marine ecosystems, and the future of our oceans. Their video highlights the importance of protecting healthy marine and coastal environments and reflects a genuine concern for the challenges facing our seas today.

We look forward to welcoming the winners to the awards ceremony, where the International Ocean Institute (IOI) will present individual prizes to the participants, and the school's library will receive the complete World Ocean Review book collection.

Congratulations once again! 🌍💙🌊🏆

The Silent Pulse | World Ocean Day Competition 2025 – 1st Place Winner OMRG is happy to announce the winners of our World Ocean Day Compet...

Our two latest toys at the Oceanography Malta Group at UM within the Department of Geosciences.....an underwater noise meter and a light metet, courtesy of the TEKMARECO and ISOLUME projects, funded within the ambit of the Interreg Italia-Malta 2021-2027 Programme and JPI Oceans, respectively.

Colleague Prof. Adam Gauci and myself are the Principal Investigators at the University of Malta on the two projects, respectively.....

The Oceanography Malta research group within the Department of Geosciences at the University of Malta is pleased to share the booklet from the Marine Data Literacy (MDL) course Malta edition 2026, held during the first week of May in Valletta.

This booklet highlights the abstracts of student projects and presentations, bringing together a rich snapshot of ideas, analyses, and perspectives developed throughout the course. It reflects not only the academic work produced, but also the collaborative and interdisciplinary spirit that shaped the week.

We hope it serves as an inspiring example of how marine data literacy can connect science, creativity, and ocean understanding.

Access the booklet here:

Marine Data Literacy Course 2026 - David Fernando Ramirez Montano Flip PDF | AnyFlip Check Marine Data Literacy Course 2026 from David Fernando Ramirez Montano here. Like Marine Data Literacy Course 2026? Just add Marine Data Literacy Course 2026 of David Fernando Ramirez Montano to My Favorites. Embed Marine Data Literacy Course 2026 to websites for free. Check 3 flipbooks from Dav...

Day 3 of this year’s MSc in Applied Oceanography course bootcamp…..

PHYSICS day……this involved taking CTD profiles, releasing sea current drifters and tracking them as well as collecting meteorological data…….the work ensued within our laboratory today, where students processed the various samples collected and started crunching some numbers….

Interested in joining the next MSc in Applied Oceanography course? Here’s the link: https://www.um.edu.mt/courses/overview/pmscapoftt5-2026-7-o/

Day 3 of the Bootcamp 🌊

Students took part in hands-on activities using scientific instruments from the Department of Geosciences, including a CTD, satellite-tracked drifters, an anemometer for wind measurements, and a single beam echo sounder for bathymetry.

They collected data on water temperature, salinity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, chlorophyll, water quality, and wind conditions. Students are now analysing the data collected and turning it into meaningful scientific insights.

Day 2 of this year's MSc in Applied Oceanography course .....making use of Niskin and van Dorhn water samples and and-held corers and collecting data on seagrasses and water chlorophyll concentration....our students are tough and did all the work assigned to them despite getting soaked to the bone.......applications for next year's course are open!

Field work for our Masters in Applied Oceanography students…..

Day 1 of this year’s MSc in Applied Oceanography bootcamp……..COAST DAY……doing beach profiling, sieving the sand for microplastics and analysing them through machine learning/image analysis as well as collecting sediment for grain-size analysis, in collaboration with students from Cardiff University, who joined our UM Masters students this year as well…….thanks to my wonderful teammates from the OMRG – Adam, Audrey Laura, David and Sam for assisting in the field as well as to Alessio for assisting remotely……Day 2 tomorrow will be BIOLOGY DAY, where we will deploy water samplers (Niskin and van Dorhn), hand-held sediment corers and even monitor Posidonia oceanica shoot metrics through SCUBA diving, whilst Day 3 will be PHYSICS Day, focusing on drifters, water column loggers, CTD deployment, etc……great photos courtesy of Shaun Cardona, David Montano and Adam Gauci…..

Interested in applying for next year’s Course? Applications are open and the Course will be opening in October 2027 for the 5th consecutive year!

Visit: https://www.um.edu.mt/courses/overview/pmscapoftt5-2026-7-o/
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The latest issue of the emagazine Sea Sense is here!!!

Get to know more about the sea around us and the initiatives being done to conserve it. Some of the various initiatives being coordinated by our Research Group - the OMRG - are featured within this issue.

You can see it via the flip book at https://heyzine.com/flip-book/abea5fa7de.html or download from www.baharwiehed.org.mt
Enjoy and kindly share



Kudos Edward Sultana and the Bahar Wiehed team for such a riveting and laudable project!

Lava flowing into the sea.....the island of Stromboli, to the north of Sicily (Aeolian Islands) in the Tyrrhenian Sea.....this is one of the most active volcanoes in Europe......satellite photo courtesy of the Copernicus EU service