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BODC Cruise Metadata Report for FRV Alba Na Mara (74NM) cruise 1008A

Introduction

This report collates information from the BODC cruise inventory and oceanographic databases. It presents

Cruise Inventory Information

Long name FRV Alba Na Mara (74NM) cruise 1008A
Short name 1008A
Objectives and Narrative Objectives

1. To collect seabed sediment cores and grab samples from a range of sediment types in an area up to 10km offshore between Catterline and Porthlethen off the east coast of Scotland.

2. Conduct experiments on the collected cores aboard the ship, involving incubating cores in a tank on deck, and measurements in the laboratory.

3. Collect hydrographic, water and plankton data and samples at each core collection site, and at the routine Stonehaven monitoring site.

4. Deploy a vertical dip camera frame at core and grab collection sites to obtain images of the seabed.

5. Carry out Roxann and thermosalinograph surveying within the study area

6. To re-lay a Datawell wave rider buoy off Aberdeen beach.

Narrative

The vessel sailed from Fraserburgh shortly before midday on 24 September and made a passage to Aberdeen Bay where the Datawell waverider buoy was deployed without difficulty. The vessel then anchored for the night and various of the coring and hydrographic equipment were tested.

The following day (25 September) Alba na Mara headed south into the study area, anchoring each night in Stonehaven Bay. On each of 6 days in the area, the vessel completed a full 12h programme of work with no loss of time due to weather, or equipment failures. Due to imminent bad weather, the vessel headed north to Fraserburgh on the evening of 30 September rather than remaining at Stonehaven and making the passage on 1 October, arriving at 0100. However, this did not interfere with scientific work on samples, which continued aboard the ship during 1 October in Fraserburgh harbour.

The scientific programme was divided between 4 tasks: 1) collection of sediment cores with associated CTD data, and measurements on the cores aboard the ship, 2) collection of seabed video footage and grab samples, sieving of the grab samples through various sieves and analysis of the fauna collected, 3) daily completion of standard hydroplankton sampling (CTD, water sampling, zooplankton sampling) at the Stonehaven monitoring site (5km offshore from Stonehaven), 4) Roxann and thermosalinograph surveying.

The experimental measurements on each sediment core (permeability, oxygen uptake, nutrient fluxes and vertical profiles) took 2 days to complete. The collection of cores was therefore staged through the survey since space, personnel and equipment limited the conduct of the experiments to approximately 9 cores at any one time, with a minimum of 3 replicates being required for each site. During the course of the survey, measurements were completed on cores from 7 sites ranging from mud to mixed sand/gravel. An additional constraint was that the operation of the corer required as close as possible to slack tide conditions.

Video and grab sampling was carried out at 48 sites selected according to a stratified sampling scheme based on sediment classes defined from a previously conducted Roxann and QTC/Swathe bathymetry survey. 3 grab samples were sieved through a 5mm mesh sieve and the fauna sorted and identified at sea. A further grab sample was sieved through 1mm and 0.5mm sieves and preserved for later analysis, and a subsample saved for grain size and elemental analysis.

Thermosalinograph and Roxann data were collected continuously throughout the cruise. In addition, detailed Roxann surveying was carried out on 30th September within 1nm x 1nm areas centred on two of the coring sites, with survey tracks at 100m spacing. The core sites selected were in areas of extremely diverse sediment and the data were collected to aid return to the site and reliable future sample collections.
Ship FRV Alba Na Mara
Departure Port Fraserburgh, United Kingdom
Departure Date 2008-09-24
Arrival Port Fraserburgh, United Kingdom
Arrival Date 2008-10-02
Principal Scientist(s) Mike R Heath (Fisheries Research Services Aberdeen Marine Laboratory)
Responsible Organisation Fisheries Research Services Aberdeen Marine Laboratory
Associated Project(s) MF0758, AE11q
IHB Sea Areas Visited North Sea
Marsden Squares Visited 181;3
Work Area Description North Sea, off Aberdeen
Unable to lookup cruise bounds at this time
Work Area Bounding Polygon
Southern Limit unknown
Northern Limit unknown
Western Limit unknown
Eastern Limit unknown

Cruise Inventory Datasets

No information on datasets is currently available for this cruise

Cruise Inventory Mooring/Buoy Operations

No information on datasets is currently available

Summary of BODC Data Holdings for the Cruise

National Oceanographic Database

Summary

# Series Instrument Description Parameters
12 CTD/STD cast Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies
Electrical conductivity of the water column
Reference numbers
Salinity of the water column
Temperature of the water column
Transmittance and attenuance of the water column
Vertical spatial coordinates

Note: Parameter terms are taken from the BODC Parameter Discovery Vocabulary XML (SKOS)

Full List

BODC Reference Instrument Description Date/Time Location  
925261 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-25 08:41Z 57° 0' N, 2° 5' W Click for more
925273 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-25 09:40Z 56° 57' N, 2° 6' W Click for more
925285 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-25 12:28Z 56° 57' N, 2° 7' W Click for more
925297 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-25 13:37Z 56° 58' N, 2° 7' W Click for more
925304 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-26 09:03Z 56° 57' N, 2° 6' W Click for more
925316 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-27 12:54Z 57° 0' N, 2° 7' W Click for more
925328 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-27 14:12Z 56° 57' N, 2° 10' W Click for more
925341 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-27 14:39Z 56° 57' N, 2° 6' W Click for more
925353 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-29 11:39Z 56° 57' N, 2° 4' W Click for more
925365 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-29 12:11Z 56° 55' N, 2° 9' W Click for more
925377 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-29 16:15Z 56° 57' N, 2° 6' W Click for more
925389 CTD/STD cast 2008-09-30 08:21Z 56° 57' N, 2° 6' W Click for more

Project Database

No data currently held for this cruise in the BODC Project Database

References

Track Charts

Track Chart

Reports

Cruise Report