This week : Naples / La Valletta (Malta)

The scientific focus:

This week we really hope to return  to the sampling rhythm we had on Tara before the storm (cf. the sailing between Nice and Tunisia). There are 3 stations planned.
“ We are going to modify  our sampling station protocols. From now on we will execute a short protocol, then long, then short again in order to reduce the work on board”, explains Hervé Bourmaud, the captain. Between Naples and Malta three sampling sites were chosen each with very different salinity levels.

The first station took place on Sunday off the coast of Naples in a low  salinity zone . The sea was too rough to plunge the big rosette with its sensors, but we could anyway carry out a light range of samplings and filtrations.

The second station is planned out of Messina Strait, in a high salinity zone (this strait is a zone full of fish, valued by fishermen).Finally, we are going to pass Sicily   on its west coast for the third medium salinity station where we will sample down to 500 m below the ocean floor.

Hervé has planned “ the hardest work on Tuesday with a 12h sampling station, a feat we haven’t attempted for several weeks. We will filter at many different depths in order to acquire a  set of samples  representing the entire water column”.

14 people on board

SCIENTISTS:
- Colomban de Vargas (Switzerland).Scientific officer. Protists filtration
- Sara Searson (New Zealand). Oceanographer engineer
- Nigel Grimsley (England). Virus and bacteria filtration
- Jean-Baptiste Romagnan. Zooplankton, pigments, carbonates and nutritive salts  filtration
- Mattias Ormestad (Sweden). Imaging, Microscope

CREW:
- Hervé Bourmaud. Captain
- Olivier Marien. Second captain
- Julien Daniel. Chief engineer
- Fabrizio Limena. (Brasil ).Deck officer
- Denys Simon. General assistant officer .Customs inspector
- Shirley Falcone (Antigua). Cook

MEDIAS:
- Clément Gargoullaud. Cameraman
- Mathieu Bretaud. Editor
- Sacha Bollet. Log book