Meanwhile, science continues

By Mark Moore

Around the drama of Wednesday afternoon (see Lucie’s recent blogpost), the science on board continues apace. Over the 5 intensive days of science to date we have already completed 72 ‘Events’ each of which effectively corresponds to a deployment of one of the many pieces of equipment which you may have read about during previous log entries, including deployments of moorings and gliders, CTDs, net sampling (see picture below) alongside snow catchers, in situ pumping systems, etc, etc ....  

Picture: The ongoing event log in the main laboratory
Others: A CTD coming on deck
Net sampling
Mooring deployments
A glider being ballasted on board before being deployed

With all this activity occurring on board it is important that we keep detailed, accurate and up to date records. The first stage in making sure everyone knows where we are with planned activities is a running event log which we keep in the main lab of the ship (see picture). Here we provide a rough record of what has happened to date, allowing the person leading the next activity to confirm the event number and providing a record for checking against more detailed logs. Simultaneously the officers on watch also keep a separate ongoing record of all activities from up on the bridge. One of my jobs as principal scientist then involves keeping a check to make sure that all these logs are aligned. It pays to have multiple redundancy as although a research ship is a reasonably small space, with everyone working in different areas of the ship and at different times of the day and night effective communications can sometimes still be a challenge!

Work wise we are currently around half way through another of our CTD (Picture) sampling transects down the shelf edge aimed at understanding the processes by which iron (Fe) may be transported off the shelf. Working where the water depth shoals so steeply has its own challenges. We have to be extra careful lowering sampling equipment near to the bottom as there are regions of the shelf break where the water depth can change by 1000m in under a km, i.e. a >45% slope!

Call of Duty - Receiving a distress call

 By Lucie Munns

This week we were all reminded that RRS Discovery is more than just a research ship. On the open ocean, every vessel has a responsibility to play their part in the safety of the rest of the sea-going community.

Sampling activities at our first process station; Central Celtic Sea (CCS), were drawing to a close. All on board were starting to get into the swing of things. Most operations had run smoothly so far, including two pre-dawn sampling points, which at this time of year begin at 02.00 am!

At approximately 13.00 pm many scientists and technicians were on deck sampling seawater from the midday CTD; the piece of equipment which is deployed over the side of the ship to collect water from many different depths. Although sampling at CCS was not yet complete we noticed the ships engines rumble to life and the ship beginning to move. Soon after, Captain Jo appeared on deck with some somewhat startling news, at least for those of us who are not seasoned seamen.

RRS Discovery had received a distress call. The hull of an upturned vessel had been sighted from an aircraft, and we were in close vicinity and were required to respond immediately. The steam west to the site of the incident took approximately 3 hours, and it was all eyes on deck to keep a look out for anything unusual. Needless to say the atmosphere was tense, but the crew were incredibly calm and professional.

Cargo Ship and spotter plane look on as the boat from Discovery investigates
upturned hull.

When recovered Goose Barnacles indicate that the rusty old open boat has
clearly been at sea for a considerable time!

At around 16.00 we spotted a tiny brownish speck bobbing in the swell; the hull of a very small upturned boat. A light aircraft from the Irish coast guard was surveying from above, and a large container ship had reached the scene first, but neither had the means to move in for a closer look. 

With a readily deployable rib, RRS Discovery is better prepared than most vessels for the situation. Three brave crew members rose to the challenge of boarding the rib; 2nd Officer Vanessa, 3rd Engineer Angus and Petty Officer Willie. Watched anxiously by the rest of us they motored out to make an inspection, where to everyone’s great relief they found that the boat had clearly been adrift for quite some time, and was not a recent capsize. It was reddish-orange with rust, spattered with white bird poo, and hundreds of barnacles clung to its submerged surfaces. Some skilful manoeuvring by both the crew on the rib and on board the Discovery brought the old wreck alongside, and it was carefully winched aboard, in order that it would not cause an alarm to be raised in the future. The biologists among us ogled the stalked goose barnacles; beautiful yet slightly repulsive as their fleshy parts struggled and groped in vain for cool seawater. Meanwhile, the trace metal group shuddered at the amount of rust on the deck, and gave it a wide berth. 

The boat has been carefully stowed atop Alex and Chris’s container lab. They look forward to the stench of rot that will inevitably ensue if the sun decides to make an appearance.

SSB Cruise DY033: Leaving Southampton

This is first blog entry from Cruise DY033, which is the latest in the series of Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) cruises. My name is Mark Moore and I am the principal scientist on this final pelagic focused cruise of the SSB programme.

We are all excited to see what has been happening since the last pelagic cruise in spring and will be looking forward to finding out how the characteristics of the water column have developed following the spring phytoplankton bloom, alongside performing a whole series of measurements and experiments aimed at developing a better understanding of what is going on in the post bloom summer period.

I was really impressed with how smoothly mobilisation for the cruise went.

The RRS Discovery leaving port in Southampton

Thanks to the hard work of all the scientists and crew, all the equipment was loaded, boxes unpacked and instruments set up in just 2 days, partly reflecting the fact that many of the people on board are now very well rehearsed having been on a series of these cruises. Indeed, I personally feel a bit like the newcomer, this being my first cruise within the SSB programme. So I am looking forward to finally being able to ‘get wet’ and be involved in the at sea work. The cruise is also a bit of a personal journey for me as we will be working in the Celtic Sea where I performed much of my PhD work (quite a few years ago now…).

Having left Southampton on Saturday evening (see picture), we have now transited down through the English Channel and are on route to our first working area around our array of moorings, many of which have been in place for more than 18 months collecting unique data which will form a central part of the programme. Although we already have a few underway systems running and recording data, the major science operations will commence early tomorrow with us adding some additional shorter duration moorings to the array alongside the deployment of some gliders.

Docked!

And that’s it.  A big thank you to all of you for all your hard work during the cruise and for making DY030 an extremely successful component of the SSB programme.

DY030 Team.Credit: Torben Stichel

An Irish Observer onboard RRS Discovery

By Finn Ni Fhaolain

As an Irish Observer, my role onboard is to see that the scientific work being conducted and that the locations being sampled, are the same as those outlined in the initial report submitted to the Irish Marine Institute before the cruise began. Should the need ever arise, in certain situations, I am also to act as an intermediary between Irish officials and the ship. Irish Observer positions on foreign research vessels in and around Irish waters provide a fantastic opportunity for early career level researchers to gain experience on international projects and they are encouraged to actively participate in the research efforts of the cruise.

Finn (blue hat) onboard RRS Discovery: Image Credit: Torben Stichel

During the initial day of the cruise I found out which areas I was needed most to help with. This involved filtering water samples from the CTD stainless steel rosette for organic and inorganic, dissolved and particulate nutrients and chlorophyll in the water column. These samples were taken and filtered, as part of a small team, and then frozen for later analysis by different research institutes involved in the BSS project. I spent the rest of the time helping with the sediment coring and some species sorting as I’ve some experience in these areas. I tried to lend a hand with as many other activities as possible, like core slicing and Radium sampling which I had never done before. I also enjoyed photographing the deployment of landers, buoys, the Auto Sub and gliders.

Deploying the CTD rosette: Image Credit: Torben Stichel

Having previously sampled for macrofauna in deep sea and freshwater environments, I looked forward to sampling in shelf seas in a variety of substrates. I got to observe very different fauna, those more associated with soft substrates such as starfish and flat fish.

Caught by the trawl! 

It was very interesting to see the deployment of SMART buoys and landers having read so much about them at university and having used their observational data for college projects. I particularly enjoyed learning about the set up of the Auto Sub as autonomous equipment of this kind had not been present on any cruises I have been previously part of.

The cruise not only gave me the opportunity to observe different disciplines of marine science all working together – marine biology, chemical oceanography and biogeochemistry, to name a few – it made me more aware of the division of job types between technical and academic. I felt this was a significant differentiation to become aware of, as it aids early career level scientists in deciding where on the scientific spectrum they wish to work. 

Autosub: Image Credit Richard Cooke

Calm Seas

By Gary Fones 

Calm seas: Credit: Gary Fones

12^th of May saw some much appreciated calm weather and lots of science activity aboard the RRS Discovery. Lunchtime saw the deployment of the PML Buoy Profiler, which is a SSB PhD project (more of this in a latter blog from Rich Sims, PML).

 Picture of PML Buoy. Credit: Gary Fones

Sediment coring followed this, this is a key activity of any benthic cruise. We are using a number of coring devices to collect sediment from the seabed beneath us, which is 100m down. On this research cruise we are using a NIOZ corer which is used to collect sediment (mud) from the ocean floor,  a mega-corer (able to take up to 12 undisturbed samples in clear plastic tubes),  and a large SMBA box corer which is designed to take a 600mm square, undisturbed sediment sample up to a maximum depth of around 450mm.

 NIOZ corer recovered to deck. Credit: Gary Fones

Wednesday 13^th of May started with calm seas and a lovely sunrise. This was followed by a very successful recovery of the NOCL mini-stable lander that has been on the seabed the last few days gathering in-situ data (more of this in a latter blog) which will be used by the scientists to understand processes happening at the boundary between the sea bed and water column.

Recovery of Lander: Credit:Richard Cooke

Rough seas and science finally starts

By Gary Fones 

Deploying the CTD. Credit: Gary Fones

The core aim of DY030 is to collect samples and data to understand how the chemistry and biology of the Celtic Sea link together to drive healthy and productive conditions, as well as how those conditions might change with climate change. After sailing we experienced some weather more associated with March than May – a number of scientists took to their cabins or just sat on deck staring at the horizon wishing the waves away! Those with their sea legs carried on and continued preparations in their various laboratories on the ship waiting for the science to start.

CTD. Credit: Torben Stichel

We eventually started work on the 6^th May at one of our main Benthic Process sites – Benthic G. First up is always some CTD work even on a benthic sediment sampling research cruise. CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth) is the stock instrument of any oceanographic cruise and enables us to understand the water column structure using a number of on-board sensors and collecting water samples from per-determined depths for subsequent analysis. After a slow start it is always nice to get the first sampling underway.

CTD. Credit: Richard Cooke

The Start: DY030

By Gary Fones 

4^th May 2015 saw the commencement of DY030 aboard the RRS Discovery, the latest cruise in the Shelf-Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) programme. The aim of the NERC Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry research programme is to take a holistic approach to the cycling of nutrients and carbon, and the controls on primary and secondary production in UK and European Shelf Seas, and to increase understanding of these processes and their role in wider biogeochemical cycles.

RRS Discovery. Photo credit: Jessy Klar

Of the 4 main work packages this cruise will mainly focus on Work Package 2 (Biogeochemistry, macronutrient and carbon cycling in the benthic layer) and Work Package 3 (The Supply of Iron from Shelf Sediments to the Ocean), but with facets of the CANDYFLOSS Pelagic Work package. All Work packages contribute to the overall Integrated modelling effort of Work Package 4.

Aboard RRS Discovery. Photo credit: Richard Cooke

This mainly benthic focussed cruise is the third of four benthic cruises following on from DY008 in Spring 2014 and DY021 in March 2015. DY030 will include the use of a number of benthic lander systems, Autosub 3, gliders, benthic trawl equipment, benthic flumes, CTD water column sampling, Sediment Profile Imaging (SPI) camera and various coring systems.

Game of Filters: A Song of Filters and Water

Clare Davis and Calum Preece, University of Liverpool (Westeros)

The University of Liverpool team (picture 1) is responsible for determining the composition and relative concentrations of dissolved and particulate organic nutrients, namely carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. This is a key part of understanding both nutrient cycling and the fate of carbon fixed by primary production in the shelf system.  

Picture 1. The Liverpool team with [Jon] Snow Catcher enjoying some afternoon sunshine. Photo: Jose Lozano.

In real terms, this equates to an awful lot of filtering during the SSB cruises. To achieve this we travel down from Filterfell in the North to Southampton where we join the ship. From then on, we employ all of the Seven Filtrations to collect a wide range of samples. But first of all, we trot our little legs over to whichever device we are using for sampling that day, be it Jon Snow Catcher, CTD or Ned SAPS, armed with Tygon Lannister tubing and fill our bottles with as much seawater as we can get our hands on. There is one exception however, when we are working alongside the Fe Island team we aren’t trusted in the clean lab so they sample their fancy CTD on our behalf and deliver the water to us.

During transects and at designated stations we collect water samples from the CTD which we analyse for dissolved organic nutrients, including dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), amino acids (AA) and coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM). We define these nutrients as those which pass through what is arguably the king of filters; King GFFrey with a pore size of 0.7μm.

We collect a selfish amount of water from the CTD for sampling particulate nutrients, including particulate carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, lipids, amino acids, stable nitrogen isotopes and pigments. We define the particulate fraction as anything stuck to King GFFrey after filtering a couple of litres of seawater (picture 2).  We also collect particulate samples from the now infamous Jon Snow Catcher. 

Picture 2. A [King] GFF[rey] filter covered with particulate material. Photo: Chata Seguro.

A personal favourite for sampling particulate nutrients is the honourable and reliable Ned SAPS. With the help of Lord Commander Jon Short (picture 3), his Men of the NMF Watch, and good old Ned SAPS we can filter hundreds of litres of seawater in situ, separating out large particles from smaller ones which can give us useful insight into the composition and variability of the different sized particles in the water column.

Picture 3. [Lord Commander] Jon Short of the NMF [Watch] and good old [Ned] SAPS. Photo: Chata Seguro.

 

After all the samples have been filtered most are frozen in the freezer room which lies beyond the great hangar, but the Cercei CDOM samples must be analysed on Hodor Horiba…Horiba before they degrade. This is helps us calibrate the CDOM sensors on Samuel ‘Tarly’ Ward’s sea gliders that roam the Celtic Sea.

While many are currently playing in the Game of Filters, there is no denying that the North is a force to be reckoned with as they rule over their Seven Filtration rigs across the not-so-narrow Celtic Sea.

The bloom is coming! And soon the seabed will be covered with marine snow…