As human activities continue to move further offshore (Bett 2001;Glover and Smith 2003), they come into contact with deep-sea environments and populations that are often not well understood. Deep-ocean basins cover more than 60% of the Earth's surface, yet much of the deep-sea remains unexplored. Recent efforts have been made to address the historical under-sampling of the deep sea by establishing long-term seafloor observatories, some autonomous and some connected to shore stations via electro-optical cables. Here we describe the first results from two long-term autonomous observatory platforms used to study deep-sea ecology in the vicinity of oil and gas industry activity in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Angola. AbstractThe DELOS (Deep-ocean Environmental Long-term Observatory System) project is a long-term research program focused on understanding the impacts of oil and gas extraction on deep-sea ecosystems. We have installed two seafloor observation platforms, populated with ROV-serviced sensor modules, at 1400 m water depth in the Southeast Atlantic off the coast of Angola. The 'impact' Near-Field platform is located 50 m from subsea oil production facilities. The 'control' Far-Field platform is 16 km distant from any industry seafloor activity. Each platform includes oceanographic, acoustic, and camera sensor modules. The latter carries two still cameras providing close-up and wide-angle views of the seabed. The Far-Field platform is also equipped with a sediment trap that deploys to 100 m above the seafloor. The instrumented platforms were installed in Feb 2009, and the sensor modules subsequently serviced in Aug 2009, Feb 2010, and Aug 2010. Here, we report on our first experiences of operating the observatories and present some of the first data. The oceanographic data (temperature, salinity, oxygen concentration) and biological observations (demersal fish and benthic invertebrates) suggest that the two study sites have near identical environmental characteristics. We, therefore, believe that these sites are appropriate as control and impact locations for long-term monitoring of potential anthropogenic effects referenced to natural background environmental variation. We suggest that DELOS-type observatories, particularly operated as pairs (or in networks), are a highly effective means of appropriately monitoring deep-water resource exploitation-both hydrocarbon extraction and mineral mining.

Deepwater represents a significant proportion of future oil and gas exploration and production. Scientists have however stated that the deepwater environment is less well understood than the dark side of the moon. At the same time there is increasing pressure from NGOs to postpone deepwater exploration until more is known about potential impacts. In partnership with the marine science community, and via capacity building in Angola, BP has developed and installed the world's first Deepwater Environmental Long-term Observatory System (DELOS) off the coast of Angola. Two environmental monitoring stations were installed, one in the near field and one in the far field 16 kms distant from, and upstream of, any infrastructure. These subsea platforms will be in place for around 25 years and, for the first time ever, will provide scientifically defensible data to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural change in the deep sea. Without this understanding future changes in the deepwater environment could be incorrectly attributed to E&P operations.The data collected will be fundamental in helping Industry and the scientific community to build a long-term picture of deep-sea processes and ecology. In particular, it will enable us to:Measure and monitor deep-sea biological communities Monitor the pace of recovery from any unforeseen impacts Differentiate between natural & anthropogenic changes and provide a linkage between marine biodiversity & climate change The development of the system from concept through to fabrication, installation, and first data recovery is outlined including a first use of non-corrosive Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) as the primary structural element for a deepwater subsea facility. The selection of the various instrumentation modules and their application is discussed.

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The 1962 dystopian novella A Clockwork Orange achieved global cultural resonance when it was adapted for the cinema by Stanley Kubrick in 1971. However, its author Anthony Burgess insisted that the novel’s innovative element was the introduction of ‘Nadsat’, an art language he created for his protagonist Alex and his violent gang of droogs. This constructed anti-language has achieved a cultural currency and become the subject of considerable academic attention over a 50-year period, but to date no study has attempted a systematic analysis of its resources and distribution. Rather, a number of studies have attempted to investigate the effects of Nadsat, especially in terms of the author’s claim that learning it functioned as a form of ‘brainwashing’ embedded within the text. This paper uses corpus methods to help isolate, quantify and categorise the distinctive lexicogrammatical features of this art language and investigate how Burgess introduces a new, mainly Russian-based lexicon to readers. In doing so, it clarifies the existing confusion over what Nadsat is, and also provides a roadmap for future studies into the construction, function and translatability of the created linguistic component of the novel.

J.G. Ballard's early novels The Drowned World (1962) and The Crystal World (1966) take a climatological approach to apocalyptic dystopia. This has led survey studies of climate fiction to identify these novels as founding texts of the genre. Yet Ballard wrote in an era before global warming had been identified by climate scientists, and his fiction is as much psychological and ontological as it is physiological. Ballard both adheres to and deviates from the global warming narrative now accepted by contemporary climatology, working within and beyond the SF subgenre of post-apocalyptic fiction. This paper assesses the extent to which these dystopian narratives can be understood as climate fiction and explores the debt that more recent cli-fi may owe to Ballard.I've always felt that people living in the cosy suburbia of Western Europe and America never appreciated just how vulnerable we were to climatic disasters.-J.G. Ballard, to Travis Elborough