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At any one time scientists and technicians from the UK marine community can be at sea on numerous vessels. This page provides information on the current research expeditions being undertaken by our two Royal Research Ships Discovery and James Cook. Here you can discover where our ships are and what they are aiming to achieve.
Updates from the ships’ Plans of Intended Movement (PIM)
| RRS Discovery | RRS James Cook |
|---|---|
|
Vessel: Discovery
DTG: 230421 0800 Zone: Z+1 Exped: DY 131 Subj: PIM
Pos: SST 104 berth, Southampton. Wx: E F3. Fine and clear. Sheltered waters.
Status: Preparation for DY131. PCR testing for crew and technicians today. |
Vessel: James Cook
DTG: 210421 0800 Zone: Z Exped: JC214 Subj: PIM
Pos: Berth 26/27 NOC Berth, Empress Dock, Southampton WX: Lt Airs, clear sky and dry
Status: Vessel mobilisation for JC214 Internal ISM Audit with HoSC continues Vessel general maintenance and stores loading COVID 19 restrictions in place throughout. |
Ships Positions
This map shows the positions of the NOC operated vessels RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook. While every effort is made to keep this map up to date sometimes position updates are not possible.
Latest Expeditions
RRS James Cook
| Cruise | Principal scientist & institution | Location | Duration in days (begins) | Aim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JC211 |
Einar Povl Abrahamsen |
Falkland Islands |
34 days (January to March) |
Joint BAS CoreBox/DP/A23 - 2021 The joint CoreBox, Drakes Passage, A23 cruise is programmed to carry out the CTD transects and turnaround of equipment still deployed due to the suspension of the 2020/21 MFP, to ensure continued future operation of science activities, whilst first and foremost, managing the risk to personnel based on the current and forecast C19 threat. It is proposed to carry out a combination of activities of SMEs 17/146 Abrahansen, 17/149 Firing, and 19/1032 Fielding; due to the limited time availabe the cruise will be a subset of the 3 SMEs activities with the Pis of the 3 SMEs agreeing to the prioritisation of activities. The text below is taken from the 3 original SMEs but is not the work planned for this cruise, it is simply for information, this cruise is planned to deliver a reduced sub set of essential activity only. |
RRS Discovery
| Cruise | Principal scientist & institution | Location | Duration in days (begins) | Aim |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DY130 |
Dr Susan Hartman |
Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) Site North Atlantic |
21 days (March and April 2021) |
The purpose of the RRS Discovery cruise DY130 to the PAP-SO is to maintain and extend our time series which has now been running for over thirty years. During this time, we’ve continued to develop the parameters measured and the samples taken, supporting novel technologies alongside well-established methods. On this cruise we deployed a Met Office Mobilis buoy which hosts weather and climate measuring instruments and telemeters this data back to the met office. In our collaboration we have instrumented the buoy too and suspended a suite of instruments at 30m to measure other atmospheric and oceanic properties including the Essential Ocean Variables: temperature, salinity, oxygen, CO2, nitrate, chlorophyll. The times series continues down the water column with sediment traps and on to the sea floor at 4850m, where photographic surveys using a remotely operated vehicle, HyBIS are used alongside sampling with megacorers to monitor the flux of organic material through the water column to the sea floor and the benthic organisms living above, on and in it. The cruise also continued long-term measurements of sedimentation events and water currents within a major submarine canyon system, the Whittard Canyon – a geological feature that hosts the UK’s only deep-sea marine protected area. In addition, DY130 is linked to the US NASA-led EXPORTS programme, that will send three ships to the region in May 2021. On DY130 we deployed one UK underwater glider (funded by EU projects GOCART and IFADO, provided by the Marine Autonomous and Robotic Systems (MARS) at the National Oceanography Centre) and two US underwater gliders (funded by EXPORTS/NASA) that will continue to monitor the area when RRS Discovery returns to Southampton. These gliders will profile to 1000m and measure temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, phytoplankton pigments and particle abundance. Oceanographic data from the gliders, the PAP-SO mooring, and that held by the British Oceanographic Data Centre, will assist the US team in refining the planning of their major field campaign. Much more scientific information can be found on our website: https://projects.noc.ac.uk/pap/ Short pieces on our blog: https://papobservatory.wordpress.com/blog-posts/ And snapshots on twitter: @PAP_observatory We are also working with 2 local schools on an outreach project. |