Resources

RRS Discovery D78A

Cruise summary report

Cruise Info. 
Ship name (ship code)RRS Discovery (74E3)
Cruise identifierD78A
Cruise period1976-09-08 — 1976-09-22
StatusCompleted
Port of departureBarry, United Kingdom
Port of returnStornoway, United Kingdom
PurposeResearch
ObjectivesThe primary objective was to complete the northern portion of a circuit of tidal pressure recordings which has been determined piecemeal on a number of cruises since about 1970. The whole circuit encloses the part of the north-eastern Atlantic bounded in latitude by southern Iceland and Cape St. Vincent and in longitude by the mid-Atlantic ridge and the west European shelf edge. The present cruise covered three deep stations near the 30° Meridian from 53.5° northward and two stations of moderate depth on the Reykjanes Ridge and the Iceland-Faroe Rise respectively. Deployment of sea-bed capsules at these sites entailed some 5000miles of steaming altogether, so a fair margin had to be allowed on the first and last legs for possible delays due to weather. This left a rather short period between mooring and recovery of some capsules, but it was arranged that each site should have more than 15 days recording, which is about the minimum necessary for good tidal analysis.
Chief scientistDavid E Cartwright (Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Bidston Laboratory)
ProjectOceanic Tidal Recording SE and SW of Iceland
Cruise reportRRS Discovery D78A cruise report d78.pdf (9.90 MB) 
Ocean/sea areas 
GeneralNorth East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W)
Track chartsRRS Discovery D78A cruise track — trk1821.html
Measurements 
Physical oceanography 
Surface measurements underway (T,S)Description: Temperature only.
Sea level (inc. bot. press., inverted echosounder)Quantity: activity duration in days = 25
Meteorology 
Incident radiationDescription: continuous recording
Geology and geophysics 
Single-beam echosoundingQuantity: track kilometres = 7408
Magnetic measurementsQuantity: track kilometres = 7408