CORAL REEFS IN THE LABORATORY In its National Sea Simulator (SeaSim), the Australian In- stitute of Marine Science simulates the complex changes that climate change is having on the oceans and coral reefs. Using large seawater tanks, scientists research the effects of environmental changes on corals and other tropical marine organisms. In long-term experiments, factors such as light, temper- ature, acidity and salinity are varied and the influence of the changes is documented in a controllable environ- ment. N U M E R O U S P O O L S , N U M E R O U S F A C T O R S – A G R E A T D E A L T O C O N T R O L . Thus, the Sea Simulator provides the researchers with im- portant findings for understanding changes and adapta- tions of marine organisms. Conclusions and measures can be derived to protect corals and oceans from the effects of climate change. AIMS also does research at sea: the organisation has ships with fully equipped laboratories that can also be used to conduct experiments on the high seas. This al- lows them to study the physical and biological properties of different habitats directly in the field. C L I C K H E R E F O R T H E W H O L E S T O R Y ! A VERY SPECIAL PROJECT. Saving a habitat threatened by climate change with the help of scientific research: the AIMS project is extremely important. We couldn’t be prouder that Weidmüller prod- ucts are contributing to the project – and thereby linking automation and science. In the SeaSim tanks, it must be possible to change vari- ous parameters flexibly and at any time in order to simu- late the conditions of the coral reefs realistically. This is where our I/O system u-remote helps to control variables such as the temperature and supply of water. This is not a trivial task by any means: even the smallest changes in water temperatures can determine the success or failure of expensive experiments. Reliable, automated transmis- sion and monitoring of signals and data are therefore of great importance. In addition, u-remote is used to control special LED lights developed by AIMS. These simulate the large colour spectrums that occur in the reefs. Besides u-remote, AIMS also uses managed switches and switching power supplies of the PROtop performance class. A U T O M A T I O N M E E T S S C I E N C E 13