High Seas Science - first impressions

The Journey started in sunny Bermuda although there were days where the weather went south and we experienced gale force winds. Bermuda was a beautiful island, with pink sand beaches, although there were also a lot of plastic particles. During the short week in Bermuda the Hach Hydrolab MS5 sensor and CO2 sensors were installed. But unfortunately the CO2 sensor malfunctioned before we started the journey and had to be sent back for repairs. On 28 January 2010 we set out on our Atlantic expedition.

The Sea Dragon traveled at an average speed of 7 knots towards the Sargasso center except when trawling for plastic when the speed dropped to between 1-2 knots. After a rocky start with the data collected the Hach sensor was re-calibrated and work perfectly thereafter. The temperature increase from 19C to around 22C as we headed east south east towards the Sargasso sea center.

The closer we got the Sargasso center the worst the weather became, we experienced 3 days of gale force winds and waves. During two of those days, 2nd and 3rd of February, the sensor had to be cut off due to errors readings caused by the wave action on the vessel. On February 10 2010 about 200 miles off the coast of the Azores the sensor was shutdown and the last data packet sent off. The temperature as expected dropped as we got closer to the Azores heading north east, dropping to around 16.4C. The pH varied slightly between 8.04 and 8.16 averaged at 8.08, while salinity followed suit ranging from 36.14-40.27 and averaging around 37.5. The values attained for pH seems to be lower than the global mean while the values collected for salinity seem range higher.

The Azores are a group of volcanic islands off the south western coast of Europe. We quickly noticed how clear the water was as we drew near to the man made protected marina ,in a naturally formed cove, between Faial and Pico. The staff were doing marina construction when we arrived including some dredging.

The construction in the marina created heavy sediment areas in the water but these were quickly dissipated by the amazing natural flushing of the basin. The marina is also a Blue Flag Certified site. This Blue Flag is used by the EU to certify marinas and beaches meeting a certain environmental standard. The beaches on Fail are all black sand and smoothed black pebble beaches. We have also seen a lot of plastic all of them, small and large pieces like buckets and fuel tanks.

The next part of the journey will lead us south to Cape Verde. During this time we will continue out to international waters to collect to more water quality data. In addition to the Hach sensor the CO2 sensor will also be installed which will make for some exciting data. We expect temperature to increase, and pH and salinity to continue in the same range.

Elton Joseph