RRS Discovery D377 (D378)
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RRS Discovery (74E3) |
| Cruise identifier | D377 (D378) |
| Cruise period | 2012-07-05 — 2012-07-27 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Southampton, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Southampton, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Objectives
1. Create high-resolution ecological maps at scales of <1 m^2 to 100 km^2. 2. Use collected data to test hypotheses focusing on if any observed faunal distributions are linked with the spatial patterns of other fauna, habitat, food availability, or environmental conditions. 3. Use the results to improve estimates of deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem function of megafauna and relate the findings to factors such as food availability. Tasks of the cruise included: - Autosub6000 ecological mapping (collecting one or more of multibeam, photography, CTD, and optical backscatter data) - megacoring - box coring - CTD deployments - glider recovery (in connection with Fastnet) |
| Chief scientist | Henry Ruhl (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton) |
| Project | Autonomous Ecological Surveying of the Abyss (AESA) |
| Coordinating body | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
| Cruise report |  (6.60 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | Celtic Sea North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Specific | Porcupine Abyssal Plain |
| Track charts | (0.08 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| Surface measurements underway (T,S) | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Sea surface hydrography and meteorology system (2 x Kipp & Zonen CM6B, 2 x SKYE 510, Vaisala HMP45A, Vaisala PTB110, Gill Windsonic option 3, WET Labs WETStar, WET Labs CSTAR, Sea-Bird SBE 45, Sea-Bird SBE 38) |
| Water bottle stations | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: CTD (Sea-Bird SBE 911plus with digiquartz and dual SBE 3P & SBE 4C sensors, Sea-Bird SBE 32 24-way carousel, Sea-Bird SBE 43, Benthos PSA-916T, Aquatracka MKIII, 2 x Chelsea 2pi PAR or ISUS nitrate, WETLabs BBRTD, Chelsea Aquatracka MKII) |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: CTD (Sea-Bird SBE 911plus with digiquartz and dual SBE 3P & SBE 4C sensors, Sea-Bird SBE 32 24-way carousel, Sea-Bird SBE 43, Benthos PSA-916T, Aquatracka MKIII, 2 x Chelsea 2pi PAR or ISUS nitrate, WETLabs BBRTD, Chelsea Aquatracka MKII) |
| Transparency (eg transmissometer) | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Sea surface hydrography and meteorology system (2 x Kipp & Zonen CM6B, 2 x SKYE 510, Vaisala HMP45A, Vaisala PTB110, Gill Windsonic option 3, WET Labs WETStar, WET Labs CSTAR, Sea-Bird SBE 45, Sea-Bird SBE 38) |
| Current profiler (eg ADCP) | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Teledyne RDI Ocean Observer (75 kHz/150 kHz) ADCP (hull mounted) |
| Contamination | |
| Other contaminant measurements | Quantity: number of experiments = 2 Description: Crude oil spill impact experiments (with sediment cores and near bottom seawater) |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Sea surface hydrography and meteorology system (2 x Kipp & Zonen CM6B, 2 x SKYE 510, Vaisala HMP45A, Vaisala PTB110, Gill Windsonic option 3, WET Labs WETStar, WET Labs CSTAR, Sea-Bird SBE 45, Sea-Bird SBE 38) |
| Biochemical measurements (eg lipids, amino acids) | Quantity: number of deployments = 40 Description: Megacore samples |
| Benthic bacteria/micro-organisms | Quantity: number of deployments = 40 Description: Megacore samples |
| Zoobenthos | Quantity: number of deployments = 40 Description: Megacore samples |
| Zoobenthos | Quantity: number of cores = 3 Description: Box core |
| Meteorology | |
| Routine standard measurements | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Sea surface hydrography and meteorology system (2 x Kipp & Zonen CM6B, 2 x SKYE 510, Vaisala HMP45A, Vaisala PTB110, Gill Windsonic option 3, WET Labs WETStar, WET Labs CSTAR, Sea-Bird SBE 45, Sea-Bird SBE 38) |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of deployments = 40 Description: Megacore samples |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of cores = 3 Description: Box core |
| Bottom photography | Quantity: number of track lines = 1 Description: SHRIMP (Imenco still camera, 2x video camera) |
| Single-beam echosounding | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Echosounding (echo sounder) |
| Multi-beam echosounding | Quantity: number of track lines = 1 Description: SHRIMP (Imenco still camera, 2x video camera) |
| Multi-beam echosounding | Quantity: activity duration in days = 23 Description: Echosounding (echo sounder) |
| Moorings, landers, buoys | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| Other physical oceanographic measurements | 48° 27' 59" N 9° 57' 59" W — Glider - Coprolite (pick up only) |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M50 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M55 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M52 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M49 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M56 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M51 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M53 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M54 |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M57 |
| Multi-beam echosounding | 50° 22' 59" N 17° 41' 59" W — Autosub6000 deployment M58 |
| Multi-beam echosounding | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M49 |
| Multi-beam echosounding | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M57 |
| Multi-beam echosounding | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M51 |
| Multi-beam echosounding | 49° 0' 0" N 16° 30' 0" W — Autosub6000 deployment M50 |
| Data held at BODC | |
| Discrete samples | |
| 10 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle deployment | |
| 4 Box core | |
| 7 CTD frame plus rosette sampler | |
| 40 Multicorer | |
| 1 Underwater camera system |
