Resources

Celtic Explorer CE11006

Cruise plan

Cruise Info. 
Ship name (ship code)Celtic Explorer (45CE)
Cruise identifierCE11006
Cruise period2011-04-20 — 2011-05-10
StatusCompleted
Port of departureGalway, Ireland
Port of returnGalway, Ireland
PurposeResearch
ObjectivesBiodiscovery
Working on the lower slope and at bathyal/abyssal depths in canyon regions we aim to:
1. Identify and map benthic macrofauna using conventional cores and ROV surveys.
2. Improve systematic knowledge of Porifera and Mollusca, groups with known biodiscovery potential, using traditional morphological techniques in combination with molecular biology.
3. Collect marine specimens for freeze-drying and the preparation of extracts in the MI Marine Biodiscovery Laboratory.
4. Collect marine specimens likely to have novel photoactive molecules.
5. Carry out preliminary on-ship screens for bioactivity on macrofaunal extracts.
6. Characterise bacterial and archaeal diversity in deep sea water and sediment samples over spatial and temporal scales.
7. Collect marine invertebrate samples (particularly sponges), seawater samples, and marine sediment to study and compare the microbiota associated with each of the samples, culture microorganisms and construct metagenomic libraries.

Ecosystem function and nutrient cycling
We aim to:
1. Examine the mechanisms whereby biogenic material, essentially derived for the spring diatom bloom and deposited on the continental shelf, is advected into layers within the open ocean water column from whence it sinks to the sea bed.
2. Delineate the advective extent of these nepheloid layers of biogenic material derived from the continental shelf.
3. Detect and determine the diversity and abundance of deep-sea nitrogen cycling microorganisms.
4. Characterise and determine the origins, lability and recycling rates of dissolved and particulate organic matter supporting the currently accepted net heterotrophic nature of deep-sea cold-water coral reef communities.
5. Collect calcifying detritivores (echinoids / asteroids), Lophelia branches, coral rubble and sediment to study the transfer of C and N through the detritivore foodweb.
6. Collect water and sediment samples to determine.
Chief scientistMark Johnson (Marine Institute Galway)
NPRCCeltic Explorer CE11006 NPRC celticexplorer_ce11006.pdf (0.18 MB) 
Ocean/sea areas 
GeneralNorth East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W)
Specific47N - 50N, 9W - 16W.