ADSR - Azores Deep-Sea Research

CRUISES / Terceira 2019

RV Pelagia cruise 64PE456: Terceira Island 2019

Summary Show more ↓

Another example of a long-lasting collaboration with scientists from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). This is the second time deep-sea scientists from IMAR Instituto do Mar and Okeanos University of the Azores have joined Fleur Visser cruises. The RV Pelagia cruise 64PE456 aimed to continue exploring the deep-sea areas of the Azores EEZ, namely around Terceira island and São Jorge de For a seamount; namely to (i) characterize benthic communities inhabiting seamounts in the Azores, such as São Jorge de Fora seamount, (ii) identify new areas that fit the FAO Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem criteria; and (iii) to contribute with additional data to address patterns and drivers of the distribution of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores region.

Statistics

Transits

110 km

Multibeam Bathymetry

0 km²

Filmed Seabed

0 km

Visited Areas

Stations

Dives

Video Footage Recorded

13 hours

Used Storage

0.747 Tb

Samples

No information available at this moment

Highlights

Multibeam surveys finalised the compilation of bathymetry data of the São Jorge de Fora seamount which was started in 2018. This seamount was revealed to be a linear feature with 20+ peaks of different sizes, heights and shapes.
Video transects enabled documentation of the deep-sea bottom communities and habitat characteristics at the exact location of whale deep foraging dives (100 – 1400 m) and at the São Jorge de Fora seamount.
São Jorge de Fora seamount revealed a very clear zonation pattern regarding the structure of the benthic communities, with very well-defined species associations along the depth gradient. Overall, the area shows a high degree of sediment deposition and a low number of organisms within the communities identified.
However, we discovered an aggregation of large gorgonians Callogorgia verticillate with high densities in some local patches.