On the 21st May 2024 the James Cook set out from Southampton on the first research expedition of the AtlantiS programme (JC263), under the scientific leadership of Dr Andrew Gates. The expedition was focused on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the North East Atlantic with the aim making new observations at the world’s longest-running abyssal (3000 to 6000m water depth) ecology time-series station.  

The data gathered during this expedition will not only support AtlantiS, but also contribute to programmes such as Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS), OceanSITES, and Minke. The expedition team were supported by NEODASS who provided satellite data daily giving an overview of the sea surface temperature, sea surface height and chlorophyll concentration throughout.  

You can read the expedition blogs here to find out more about the cruise, including reflections from Petr Slavik, who is our first successful cruise berth applicant, and learn how PAP is directly contributing the Discovery collection.