We've finally made it!

Louis Byrne, British Oceanographic Data Centre, NOC

86 hours of none stop work we have finally finished 57 spatial survey sites and we’re free to head to CANDYFLOSS.  Upon reaching the total there was a massive sense of relief, but I have to say I will miss watching the sky turn from dark blue through to a pastel coloured orange as the sun rises over the first NIOZ core of the day. It has been hard work but it has also been good fun with resident RRS Discovery DJ Dave Sivyer playing the classics while we wallowed in the Celtic mud. We've had sunny days, lots of dancing, and great team work from all concerned has given us an enormous quantity of extremely useful data. 

 

Kirsty Morris, Helen Smith, Natalie Hicks and Dave Sivyer of day team.

There have been ‘pin chicks’, the ‘screwdriver of destiny’ and enough mud to keep even the most voracious sedimentologist in a state of near constant euphoria. Now it’s time to get some rest while we make the 10 hour journey south to CANDYFLOSS, where we’ll be doing it all again and more before we make the 36 hour journey home!

Beginning our 12 hours shifts with some brilliant sunrises over the Celtic sea

Louis Byrne, British Oceanographic Data Centre, NOC

Through Tuesday night and on to Wednesday we were coring the final benthic station H, and by noon we had clear blue skies, a burning sun and had finished the coring at site H, and in doing so finished all the work we needed to complete at all of the four main SSB benthic  sites! The fun doesn’t stop here however, as we still have to do the majority of the spatial survey which we have been performing between the sites and steam to the central Celtic Sea site (called CANDYFLOSS) and then finally the shelf edge. A pretty full programme is being planned for both these sites!

Sunrise over the Celtic Sea

Over the last couple of days we have been working solidly 24 hours a day to get the data we need, with shift changes at 6 PM and 6 AM, and hats off to the SteveWiddicombe (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) and the rest of the night team who have been coring, trawling and fluming in the dead of night to get us towards the finishing line. The day team (led by Dave Sivyer of Cefas) have also been working just as hard, and we have been fortunate to begin our shift with some brilliant sunrises over the Celtic sea.

Vas Kitidis (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) and Natalie Hicks (Scottish
Association for Marine Science)

Morale was high as the sun was out and not before long our benthic scientists had reverted to type and started covering their faces with mud. Through the day and into the night we continued with the spatial survey that we have been doing periodically thus far, and which I will talk about in detail in the next post.

First core of the day for day team

First coring at sunrise

We’re hoping that we have enough time to get the majority of the survey done and have time to do a couple of day’s sampling at CANDYFLOSS, although with just over a week left before we need to be back in Southampton the timing is tight!

Some members of the day team