exploration at sea

Success! The strategy of moving as quickly as possible to the west turned out to be a good one. Although the rolling seas seemed to go on and on, eventually by this morning the sea was more tranquil and we were able to lower the CTD.

This morning we reached the most easterly point of the cruise, and carried out a CTD sampling station in the Skaggerak, nestled between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (red dot on map).

Today we continued our sampling of the aftermath of a very large coccolithophore bloom. We carried out another transect across the bright waters (see photo), approaching fairly close to Norway at our most northerly point.

Ever since the first week of the cruise, we have been intrigued by satellite images showing a large and intense coccolithophore bloom in the northern North Sea.

It is now three weeks since we left port, with another two still to go until we set foot on dry land again. Soft fruit has of course long since run out but we are still plentifully supplied with apples and oranges.

Yesterday evening we passed between Dover and Calais and entered the North Sea. At one point we travelled quite close to a giant wind farm installed far out at sea, faintly and eerily visible through the light mist but, from where we were, completely silent.

We had a slight delay yesterday evening. Near Lulworth Cove on the Dorset coast a scuba diver didn’t return to the surface with his dive companion. He couldn’t be found and was reported missing shortly after.

Today’s blog is by Mark Stinchcombe from the National Oceanography Centre at Southampton and is about nutrients.

We are currently carrying out a CTD station in view of the limestone promontory of Portland Bill, with Dorset’s ‘Jurassic Coast’ spread out in front of us.

Today’s blog entry, again by Dave Suggett, describes work done on the ship to examine phytoplankton pigments.

Filtering for elemental composition (C:N:P)

Unfortunately no repeat of the wildlife spectacular during this morning’s CTD station. We are now headed northeast towards the western tip of Brittany in France.