OKEANOS

The research vessel Azores Ocean embarked on its first five-day exploratory mission on 29 October, bringing together a multidisciplinary team from OKEANOS – Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of the Azores, in collaboration with the Portuguese Navy's Hydrographic Institute.

Led by Gui Menezes, Director of OKEANOS and Chief Scientist of the mission, this first expedition provided an opportunity to test scientific equipment and its operation aboard the new research vessel across several research areas:

Oceanography: Tiago Serpa and Selina El Gaziri conducted several water column profiles using a CTD equipped with sensors to measure temperature, salinity, depth, dissolved oxygen and pH.
Plankton: Clara Loureiro, from the OKEANOS MicroSent team, supported the first plankton sampling trials on board as part of the Micro2Sea project, using BONGO nets with different mesh sizes at depths of 20 and 170 metres.
Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems (BRUVs): Diana Catarino and Judit Nieto, from the TubaProf/OKEANOS team, tested the operational feasibility of deploying baited underwater cameras at approximately 300 metres depth to collect data on deep-sea fish.
Marine Acoustics: António Tavares (Portuguese Hydrographic Institute) and Irma Cascão (Whale Lab/OKEANOS) participated in underwater acoustics activities, testing the various acoustic echosounders available on board, as well as the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) to measure ocean currents. Multibeam systems used for high-resolution bathymetric surveys were also tested. One of these tests involved locating the wreck of the fishing trawler Viana, which sank in 1994 off the southern coast of Faial at a depth of approximately 46 metres.
Technology: Tiago Conceição participated in deck operations and the testing of sensors and technological systems, onboard data management, and software development for the acquisition and visualisation of data collected aboard the vessel.

The mission also included Renato Bettencourt, an IMAR technician and ROV operator.

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