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RRS Discovery D186

Cruise summary report

Cruise Info. 
Ship name (ship code)RRS Discovery (74E3)
Cruise identifierD186
Cruise period1989-09-21 — 1989-10-16
StatusCompleted
Port of departureFunchal, Portugal
Port of returnLisbon, Portugal
PurposeResearch
ObjectivesDiscovery Cruise 186 was planned to study benthic processes in submarine canyons and on the continental slope and abyssal plains off the Iberian Peninsula.

The overall aim was to compare sedimentary environments from canyons and adjacent slope and abyssal plain areas off Western Portugal with respect to the structure of their biological communities and the relationship between these communities and the microbial, geotechnical and geochemical properties of the sediments.

The cruise itself was one of the most successful that the senior scientists have participated in. All of the gear worked well almost continuously and all the the seabed transponder arrays were extremely successful. We had good weather throughout the cruise, and the Master, ship's officers and crew provided an outstandingly efficient service.

The cruise was divided into two legs. Leg one was from Funchal, Madeira to Lisbon, Portugal, during which we sampled three abyssal plains, and leg two was from Lisbon to Lisbon during which we intensively sampled the canyons off Lisbon and the adjacent abyssal plain area.

The major pieces of equipment used during the cruise were the spade box corer (divided and undivided), the multicorer, the OTSB trawl, the Agassiz trawl, the seabed cameras, the seabed transponder array, the
precision echosounder and the 3.5 kHz profiler. There were no major problems with any of this equipment.
Chief scientistP Meadows (Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory)
Cruise reportRRS Discovery D186 cruise report d186.pdf (0.91 MB) 
Ocean/sea areas 
GeneralNorth East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W)
SpecificLisbon and Setubal Canyons