Rudy Kloser
Chief Scientist, Leg 2

As a cadet at technical college in Tasmania, Rudy learned to make scientific equipment. He remembers making a sighting mechanism for nautical compasses to get bearing against land. Global positioning devices serve this function now, but most vessels still have a sighting mechanism as backup.

Rudy joined CSIRO in December 1986 after studying electrical engineering, telecommunications at the University of Tasmania.

His first job in CSIRO was engineering for fisheries research. Two weeks into the role, Rudy was sent to sea to study tuna larvae. Soon after Rudy became an acoustics specialist studying fish population dynamics.

He spent six weeks working on the Bering Sea around the Aleutian Islands. In recent years Rudy has been working with acoustics in understanding marine ecosystems.

This voyage is at the peak of modern sampling of the sea floor. "We have some of the most sophisticated equipment within our grasp. We've been working toward this over the last 10 to 15 years."

From 4 to 17 August the RV Southern Surveyor will travel from Fremantle to Albany, back to Fremantle, all well off shore.

Rudy has been helping plan this voyage for the past year. "I always have three goals on a voyage: to bring all the people back safely, to bring all the equipment back intact and to do great science. This voyage we want to unveil the shape and structure of the deep seafloor with particular focus on its life forms."

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Updated: 29/03/07