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Expedition blogs
Changing Oceans Expedition Blog
The RRS James Cook is off to the deep waters of the Rockall Trough to look at the coral reefs – a coldwater coral Lophelia pertusa. The first stop will be via the shallow Mingulay Reef Complex in the Outer Hebrides. The expedition is led by Prof Murray Roberts. He and his team are running a daily blog: Changing Oceans
Lophelia pertusa is a coldwater coral that lives in the deep waters off the Atlantic in an arc that spans from south of the coast of Ireland, past Britain and northwards towards Norway. It provides a valuable habitat for ocean ecosystems and in the past has been vulnerable to damage from trawlers.
Porcupine Abyssal Plain expedition blog
The RRS James Cook is off to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the North Atlantic to recover data from an observatory moored there. The PAP site is located in 4000 metres of Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Ireland. It is an important permanent site for deep ocean research.
The scientists will be recovering a suite of moorings that was deployed a year ago at the PAP site, and then redeploy new moorings. The moorings carry sensors to record sea temperature, nutrients, productivity and meteorological variables all year round, but the in-depth studies which will be carried on over the next few days will be used to add extra value to the mooring data, as well as answer specific scientific questions. Samples will be taken of the sediments in the seabed, microbes will be counted and nets deployed to look at slightly larger fauna, and all the samples taken will be processed, and some analysed. This blog will explore some of the research that goes on during an expedition.
About the JO071 blogger
Maureen Pagnani: how I got to be at 16 degrees W, 49.5 degrees N
I have been working with the PAP data since 2002, processing numbers, plotting graphs and creating the web sites. At NOC I am a data manager, and so as with most people lucky enough to be on this cruise I have several roles. As well as documenting many of the activities in video and in still photos I am making sure that all the work we do is documented and all the metadata (data about data) is recorded. These are such things as the exact latitude and longitude, water depth and time that each activity takes place. This will ensure that the data collected will be of value to any and all scientists in the future.
IODP Expedition leg 430
Scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, NOC, are onboard the RV JOIDES Resolution as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, IODP. Expedition 340 will look at volcanism and landslides around the Lesser Antilles.
Blogging from the Southern Ocean
The RRS James Cook is in the Southern Ocean on a 51-day expedition to look at deep water mixing in this turbulent ocean. Two young scientists aboard, Alex Brearley and Katy Sheen, are running an expedition blog from the ship at: dimesuk3.blogspot.com
