RRS Discovery D296
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RRS Discovery (74E3) |
| Cruise identifier | D296 |
| Cruise period | 2005-07-14 — 2005-07-23 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Cork, Ireland |
| Port of return | Lisbon, Portugal |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | There were three main objectives of the cruise. All centred on the long term observatory site on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) at 49N 16.5W. The first objective was to recover and redeploy various moorings and landers some of which were part of the EU funded ANIMATE project. The second objective, which contributes to the NERC funded BICEP project, was to carry out various studies to characterise the PAP site from a biological and chemical perspective and to measure particulate export from the surface layer using a variety of approaches. The third objective was to examine the benthic fauna with a view to understanding the long term trends at the site and the effects of downward particle flux on these trends. |
| Chief scientist | Richard Stephen Lampitt (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton) |
| Project | ANIMATE and BICEP |
| Coordinating body | IFM, Kiel & SOC, UK |
| Cruise report |  (3.74 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Specific | Porcupine Abyssal Plain |
| Track charts | (0.11 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| Surface measurements underway (T,S) | Description: Thermosalinograph from Cork to Lisbon |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of profiles = 4 Description: CTD profiles of water column |
| Subsurface temperature and salinity measurements | Description: Thermosalinograph from Cork to Lisbon |
| Chemical oceanography | |
| Carbon dioxide | Quantity: number of stations = 4 Description: Rosette water bottle samples |
| Total - P | Quantity: number of stations = 4 Description: Rosette water bottle samples |
| Nitrate | Quantity: number of stations = 4 Description: Rosette water bottle samples |
| Ammonia | Quantity: number of stations = 4 Description: Rosette water bottle samples |
| Silicate | Quantity: number of stations = 4 Description: Rosette water bottle samples |
| Isotopes | Quantity: number of deployments = 1 Description: Stand Alone in situ Pump sampling at 100m for 234Th concentration |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Primary productivity | Quantity: number of experiments = 4 Description: Primary production incubations (24 hours on deck). |
| Zoobenthos | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: Sediment cores (multicorer) |
| Zoobenthos | Quantity: number of stations = 2 Description: Benthic trawl |
| Meteorology | |
| Routine standard measurements | Description: Meteorological data from Cork to Lisbon |
| Moorings, landers, buoys | |
| Chemical oceanography | |
| Carbon dioxide | 49° 1' 48" N 16° 30' 36" W — PAP1 Multi-sensor package at 35m nom. depth (recovered). Deployed June 2004. |
| Nitrate | 49° 1' 48" N 16° 30' 36" W — PAP1 Multi-sensor package at 35m nom. depth (recovered). Deployed June 2004. |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Sediment traps | 48° 59' 53" N 16° 30' 17" W — PAP3 Sediment trap mooring (recovered). Deployed June 2004. |
| Sediment traps | 49° 0' 42" N 16° 27' 11" W — PELAGRA#2 drifting sediment trap (deployed for 28 hours). |
| Sediment traps | 48° 51' 47" N 16° 30' 36" W — PELAGRA#2 drifting sediment trap (deployed for 40 hours). |
| Sediment traps | 48° 51' 47" N 16° 30' 36" W — PELAGRA#1 drifting sediment trap (deployed for 40 hours). |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 11" N 16° 27' 11" W — Bathysnap time lapse benthic camera (recovered). Deployed June 2004. |
| Bottom photography | 49° 0' 11" N 16° 27' 11" W — Bathysnap time lapse benthic camera (deployed 20/07/05). |
| Data held at BODC | |
| Discrete samples | |
| 4 Instrument mooring | Sedimentation flux quantification in the water column |
