Resources

RRS Discovery D224B

Cruise summary report

Cruise Info. 
Ship name (ship code)RRS Discovery (74E3)
Cruise identifierD224B
Cruise period1996-12-30 — 1997-01-17
StatusCompleted
Port of departureCartagena, Spain
Port of returnCartagena, Spain
PurposeResearch
Objectives1. To carry out two fine-scale SeaSoar surveys, one at the beginning and one at the end of the leg, to study the Almeria-Oran Front to the east of the Alboran Sea. These studies will further the objectives of the first leg of the cruise, and will form part of the research for the MAST III funded project OMEGA. The data from the first survey will be used to establish, relative to the front, the two main stations for the biological investigations.
2. To carry out total water column biological sampling programmes, using the RMT1+8M net system, at two stations on either side of the Almeria-Oran Front, in order to: (a) To establish how the depth distribution of the specific communities of macroplankton and micronekton, and their standing crop, compare with those in the Atlantic and western Mediterranean; (b) To establish to what extent the deep-water communities are linked to production in the near-surface layers and to what extent they are determined by the physical circulation; © To provide information concerning the origins and continuing development of biodiversity in the western Mediterranean, by investigating how faunistic links with the Atlantic are being maintained by the inflows, and whether there is local speciation.
4. To carry out additional RMT1+8M net sampling across the Almeria-Oran Front.
5. To validate and cross-calibrate the various shipborne bioacoustic sensors by targeted sampling using the Longhurst Hardy Plankton Recorder.
Chief scientistPhil Pugh (Southampton Oceanography Centre)
Cruise reportRRS Discovery D224B cruise report d224_leg2.pdf (0.44 MB) 
Ocean/sea areas 
GeneralMediterranean Sea
SpecificWestern Mediterranean - Almeria-Oran Front
Measurements 
Physical oceanography 
CTD stationsQuantity: number of stations = 4
Description: Two shallow and two to full depth.
Current profiler (eg ADCP)Quantity: number of stations = 2
Description: Lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (LADCP) used on the two full depth CTD stations.