Cruise Reports
Cruise Reports
We are active in offshore surveying and data collection. See our history below!
2023
- Dates: 25th August – 18th September
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer. Sediment Plume Sampling, Bedrock Drilling & Coral Surveying (SPeeD - The Return)
2022
- Dates: 27th July – 13th August
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer to collect benthic lander systems deployed during the CE21011 research survey. Two benthic landers were redployed in to the northeastern area of the Galway Mound. These landers included new equipment upgrades to measure pH, DO and turbidity. Further ROV-based MBES data was collected from several coral occupying areas. CTDs were collected to calibrate lander based ADCPs. In addition, coral samples were retrieved to assess microplastic ingestion. Water samples acquired using the CTD will be further used to quantify microplastics across the sites
2021
- Dates: 14th August – 19th August 2021
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer to collect benthic lander systems deployed during SyMonS_MoM research survey
2020
- Dates: September 22th – October 3rd 2020
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer, “Systematic Monitoring Survey of the Moira Mound Chain” (aka SyMonS_MoM) to deploy 7 benthic lander systems in the Porcupine Seabight.
2019
- Dates: October 16th – 20th 2019:
- Onboard the RV Celtic Voyager, “DOWindy” Leg 2 took place to add to the data collected during Leg 1 (see below).
- Dates: September 16th – 28th 2019
- Onboard the RV Celtic Voyager, “DOWindy” Leg 1 saw scientists from UCC and MaREI collected geological data from the submerged Irish continental shelf for use in improved offshore wind farm development and site selection models.
- Dates: 25th July 2019 – 31st July 2019
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer to the Porcupine Bank Canyon, a deep-water coral dominated canyon system. This cruise focused on recovering our eight ‘novel’ lander monitoring systems.
- Dates: May 13th – 23rd 2019
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer to the Porcupine Bank Canyon, a deep-water coral-dominated canyon system. This cruise saw the successful deployment of eight landers along different sites of the PBC.
2018
- Dates: July – August 2018
- Onboard RV Celtic Explorer to the Porcupine Bank Canyon, a deep-water coral-dominated canyon system. This cruise consisted of high-resolution mapping, regional mapping, water samples and CTD’s, ROV vibro-coring and ROV video and sampling.
- Dates: October 17th – 24th 2018
- Onboard RV Celtic Voyager on the continental shelf west and south of Ireland. The two primary goals of the cruise were to (1) de-risk offshore construction aggregate mining south of Ireland and (2) de-risk offshore wind farm development south and west of Ireland. The cruise consisted of multibeam collection, grab samples and vibro-coring.
2017
- Dates: June – August 2017
- Onboard RV Celtic Voyager to Achill Island, Blacksod Bay and the surrounding areas. This cruise utilised sub-bottom profiler (sparker and pinger), high-resolution multibeam (dual-head EM2040), magnetometer, vibrocores and grab samples to understand sediment exchange dynamics and characterise surface and near-surface heavy mineral distribution, abundance and composition.
- Dates: May – June 2017
- Onboard ILV Granuaile and the Holland 1 ROV to the Porcupine Bank Canyon. This cruise includes ROV video investigation of a range of habitats within the Porcupine Bank Canyon, ROV-mounted vibro-coring and ROV-mounted rock drilling.
- Dates: 28th March – 13th April 2017
- Onboard the RV Celtic Voyager, the aim of this survey was to collect geophysical acoustic data in the Irish sector of the Irish Sea and the Northern Celtic Sea. The survey carried out during this cruise contributes to three iCRAG projects; 1) QuSiSS, AggrePOP and fLIPeR.
2016
- Date: May 2016
- Onboard RV Celtic Explorer with the Holland 1 ROV to the Porcupine Bank Canyon. This survey was a follow up to the QuERCi survey from 2015 which investigated cold-water coral mounds. This was an investigation of the southern lip of the Porcupine Bank Canyon.
2015
- Dates: June – July 2015
- With RV Celtic Explorer and the Holland 1 ROV to the Moira Mounds and the Porcupine Bank Canyon cold-water coral habitats. This cruise includes the acquisition of ROV-mounted and hull-mounted multibeam and ROV video and sampling from both sites.
2014
- Dates: 6th – 18th March
- This survey focussed on the provision of core material from several survey areas on the Irish western shelf and margin in support of differing research objectives. It represents a coming together of several Irish university research groups, and international collaborators, around a common purpose.
- Dates: 11th – 17th September
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer to the Belgica Mound Province. This survey provided a platform for young researchers to gain experience conducting a multidisciplinary investigation of cold-water coral (CWC) ecosystems. This encompassed oceanography, geology, acoustics, benthic faunal sampling and video acquisition.
- Dates: 10th – 17th January 2014
- GOST – Geotechnical, shallow seismic cruise. Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer, in situ Cone Penetration Testing (CPTu) was performed to ground truth previously collected seismic date from the survey CE13003. This cruise collaborated with MARUM (University of Bremen), and focused on the North-Western Mudbelt are of the Irish Sea.
2012
- Dates: 25th March – 7th April 2012
- RV Celtic Voyager Its purpose was to collect baseline information from areas of potential interest for future offshore wind farm developments. In addition, valuable data and samples are collected for geo-engineering appraisals of the investigated areas towards a comprehensive understanding of geological sub-bottom architecture and contemporary sedimentary processes. The survey targeted three areas in Irish and Northern Irish waters: Dungarvan area, Saltee Island area, Killkeel and Dundrum Bay area
R/V Belgica 2012/16 Cruise Report.pdf
- Dates: 2nd – 7th June 2012
- This research cruise was performed in the Moira Mounds area, located in the Belgica Mound Province. The main objective of this cruise was to collect seafloor and seawater samples in order to comprehend the mechanisms that trigger the nucleation of cold-water coral mounds.
2011
- Dates: 11th July – 4th August 2011
- This survey focuses on two distinct deep-water bio geological systems that have received significant attention being recognised as biological “hot spots”. These are hydrothermal vents (-3000 m, 45°N mid-Atlantic ridge) and cold‐water coral reefs (-900 m, Moira Mounds, Belgica Mound Province). Principally an exploration survey, this cruise utilised CTD, ROV video, ROV multibeam and seabed sampling.
2009
- Dates: 28th September – 18th October 2009
- The Irish Sea Marine Assessment (ISMA) is a collaborative research survey undertaken by University College Cork, the INFOMAR programme and Gaelectric Developments Ltd. Its purpose is to produce integrated seabed and sub-seabed mapping products to assist understanding of the seabed specifically for the development of offshore renewable energy resources.
CE0907 Cruise Report
- Dates 17th April – 27th April 2009
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer with the Holland I ROV surveying the Belgica Mound Province.
2008
INS DeepDrill Cruise Report
- Dates: 15th August – 6th September 2008
- Onboard the RV Celtic Explorer with the MARUM MeBo remotely operated seabed drill rig
2006
BrightSpartks Cruise Report
- Dates: ?
- Onboard the RV Celtic Voyager completing video and seabed sampling surveys in the Irish Sea
2005
HabMap 1
- Dates: ?
- Onboard the RV Celtic Voyager completing video, seabed sampling and multibeam mapping in the Irish Sea