Alan J. Jamieson is a Scottish marine biologist, engineer, explorer and author, best known for his deep-sea exploration and study of life at the deepest places in the oceans. He is known for extensive use of deep-sea landers to establish the maximum depth and community dynamics of many organismal groups, as well as the discovery of many new species and highlighting the presence of anthropogenic impacts at full ocean depth. During the Five Deeps Expedition, and follow on expeditions in 2020, he completed various dives in a manned submersible to some of the deepest places in the world. He has published over 100 scientific papers and participated in 65 deep-sea expeditions.
Education and career
Jamieson was born in Scotland and grew up in Largs in Ayrshire, and then Longniddry in East Lothian. He attended Preston Lodge High School in Prestonpans. From 1995 to 1999, he obtained a BSc Honours degree in Design for Industry at Robert Gordon University's Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. In 2000 he joined the newly formed Oceanlab at the University of Aberdeen as mechanical technician where he also completed a part time PhD entitled Autonomous lander technology for biological research at mid-water, abyssal and hadal depths, graduating in 2004. During his time in Aberdeen he worked, studied and published under Professor Imants Priede. Following two postdoc positions he became a lecturer and then senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, based at the Oceanlab field station in Newburgh. In 2016 he joined the School of Marine Science and Technology at Newcastle University. In 2019 he founded the company Armatus Oceanic, focused in marine technology R&D, expeditions and science dissemination. Through Armatus Oceanic, he co-runs the Deep Sea Podcast with Dr Thomas Linley. In April 2021 he joined the University of Western Australia as professor and founding director of the Deep-Sea Research Centre.
Scientific impact
Jamieson's early scientific work focussed largely on technology-driven studies into deep-sea fish behaviour and pelagic bioluminescence. He completed two EU funded postdocs, the first a sediment dynamics project named COBO (Coastal Ocean Benthic Observatories), that involved the design and construction of a deep-water Sediment Profile Imaging camera (SPI), the second was an astrophysics project named KM3NeT (Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope), where he surveyed deep-water pelagic bioluminescence across potential sites for an underwater neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean.
During his time at Oceanlab, he began a series of projects relating to exploring the hadal zone (depths exceeding 6000m). He designed and constructed two full ocean depth rated landers to carry baited cameras, traps and other sensors to depth of nearly 11,000m. Between 2007 and 2013 he participated in and often led a series of seagoing expeditions that included the first finding of the taxonomic order Decapoda at hadal depths (including the deepest prawn ever found), the first video of fish greater than 6000m, filmed the deepest fish in the southern hemisphere, the deepest fish ever filmed (at the time), the deepest eel ever found, and the first footage and discovery of the 'supergiant amphipod' at hadal depths. These were achieved across a series 11 expeditions spanning the Japan, Izu–Bonin, Mariana, Kermadec, New Hebrides, Tonga and Peru–Chile trenches in collaboration with the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute (AORI; Japan) and the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric research (NIWA; New Zealand). These expeditions also saw the discovery of a hadal amphipod species later to be named after him: Princaxelia jamiesoni.
In 2014, Jamieson was a co-Principal investigator on the joint US–UK–NZ Hades projects: Hades-K to the Kermadec Trench and Hades-M to the Mariana Trench. The former was the first expedition to use the HROV Nereus to full scientific capacity. The vehicle was lost during this expedition, but by using spare parts and scrap metal, Jamieson constructed a full ocean depth lander, known as the Wee Trap, that days later captured the deepest fish ever caught, Pseudoliparis swirei. On the second expedition, to the Mariana Trench, he set a new record for the deepest fish (the 'Ethereal snailfish' at 8145 metres deep) and the first video footage of the supergiant amphipod, Alicella gigantea.