RRS Discovery DY149
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RRS Discovery (74EQ) |
| Cruise identifier | DY149 |
| Cruise period | 2022-03-14 — 2022-03-30 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Southampton, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Southampton, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Cruise DY149 was the trials cruise for 3 of the 5 sensor development projects within the NERC funded OCEANIDS programme. The overall aim of the cruise was to trial and demonstrate capability for a suite of in situ biogeochemical sensors developed to measure: the inorganic carbon system (CarCASS, led by the National Oceanography Centre, (NOC)); a series of inorganic nutrients (AUTONUTS, led by NOC) and phytoplankton primary production (STAFES, led by the University of Southampton (UoS)), all deployed on the Autosub Long Range (ALR) platform (aka 'Boaty McBoatface'). The cruise was undertaken on the RRS Discovery within the Celtic Sea and adjacent shelf break/slope and near-slope North East Atlantic Ocean from 14th – 30th March 2022.
The main objectives of the cruise were: 1. To demonstrate each of the sensor packages working in situ on ALR, including over their full depth range on the platform 2. To collect validation / comparison data for the variables measured in situ with the sensors on ALR 3. To develop an understanding of mission and deployment profiles for ALR and the sensor suite which can provide high quality biogeochemical data 4. To demonstrate capabilities of the ALR and sensor suite in the investigation of biogeochemical processes during the early development stages of the spring bloom at towards and across the shelf break of the Celtic Sea At the point of docking the cruise was considered to have been successful. The ALR platform performed very well, achieving over 8.5 days of deployment in the open ocean including one >4 day individual deployment. All 11 of the new sensors across the 3 sensor projects (AUTONUTS, CarCASS and STAFES) deployed on ALR were demonstrated to work in situ on the platform at some stage during the cruise, with multiple individual missions and deployments demonstrating all sensors working simultaneously. There were inevitably some problems identified with individual sensors at certain stages, but the majority of the issues were either known or identified at sea with subsequent workable solutions found. A number of mission profiles were tested with the whole system (sensors plus platform), with the aim of identifying mission modes applicable to generating high quality biogeochemical oceanographic data. Co-sampling performed using the CTD system should enable both data for sensor validation and overall comparison data for validation / comparison with the biogeochemical information provided by the ALR / Sensor platform. The final 4 day deployment from the shelf across the shelf edge sampled the beginning of the spring bloom towards the shelf edge and the clear oceanographic gradients apparent within this data are likely to provide both a good demonstration of system capabilities and valuable scientific data. All of the crew, technicians and scientists are thanked for their hard work and professionalism throughout. Thanks are also due to all of the shore based staff who helped in preparing platforms, instruments and in organising and supporting a very successful cruise. |
| Chief scientist | C Mark Moore (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton), Maaten Furlong (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton) |
| Project | NERC OCEANIDS (STAFES-APP, AUTONUTS, CarCASS components) |
| Coordinating body | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
| Cruise report |  (10.39 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Specific | Iberian upwelling |
| Track charts | (0.03 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of profiles = 28 Description: Standard instrument (CTD) data from 28 CTD rosette casts |
| Other physical oceanographic measurements | Quantity: number of dives = 21 Description: Standard instrument (CTD) data from 21 Autosub Long Range missions |
| Chemical oceanography | |
| Oxygen | Quantity: number of profiles = 19 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for dissolved oxygen analysis |
| Carbon dioxide | Quantity: activity duration in days = 14 Description: Continuous underway data with CarCASS sensors |
| Carbon dioxide | Quantity: number of profiles = 18 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for carbonate system (DIC, pH, Alkalinity) analysis |
| Carbon dioxide | Quantity: number of dives = 14 Description: Data from CarCASS sensors on ALR missions |
| Phosphate | Quantity: number of profiles = 19 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for inorganic nutrient (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, ammonium) analysis |
| Phosphate | Quantity: number of dives = 16 Description: Data from AUTONUTS sensors on ALR missions |
| Nitrate | Quantity: number of dives = 16 Description: Data from AUTONUTS sensors on ALR missions |
| Nitrate | Quantity: number of profiles = 19 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for inorganic nutrient (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, ammonium) analysis |
| Ammonia | Quantity: number of dives = 16 Description: Data from AUTONUTS sensors on ALR missions |
| Ammonia | Quantity: number of profiles = 19 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for inorganic nutrient (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, ammonium) analysis |
| Silicate | Quantity: number of profiles = 19 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for inorganic nutrient (nitrate, phosphate, silicate, ammonium) analysis |
| Silicate | Quantity: number of dives = 16 Description: Data from AUTONUTS sensors on ALR missions |
| Alkalinity | Quantity: number of profiles = 18 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for carbonate system (DIC, pH, Alkalinity) analysis |
| Alkalinity | Quantity: activity duration in days = 14 Description: Continuous underway data with CarCASS sensors |
| Alkalinity | Quantity: number of dives = 14 Description: Data from CarCASS sensors on ALR missions |
| pH | Quantity: activity duration in days = 14 Description: Continuous underway data with CarCASS sensors |
| pH | Quantity: number of profiles = 18 Description: Discrete samples from CTD collected for carbonate system (DIC, pH, Alkalinity) analysis |
| pH | Quantity: number of dives = 14 Description: Data from CarCASS sensors on ALR missions |
| Trace elements | Quantity: number of profiles = 5 Description: Samples collected for trace metal analysis from CTD |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Primary productivity | Quantity: number of samples = 19 Description: Discrete samples from CTD analysed with STAFES instrument |
| Primary productivity | Quantity: activity duration in days = 12 Description: Continuous underway data with STAFES instrument |
| Primary productivity | Quantity: number of samples = 21 Description: 14C uptake experiements (sampled from CTD or Underway system) |
| Primary productivity | Quantity: number of dives = 19 Description: Data from STAFES instruments on ALR missions |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: number of profiles = 19 Description: Samples collected from pigment analysis (Chl, HPLC, PABS) from CTD |
