CMarZ maintains a list of research cruises, fisheries resource and environmental surveys, ships of opportunity, and commercial fishing or shipping vessel tracks. Cruises are listed by ocean region.

Form to submit information on CMarZ related cruises.

I.

Arctic Ocean

  Antarctic / Arctic. Zooplankton sampling during 2006 included a transect across the South Atlantic from Punta Arenas to Cape Town on the RV Polarstern and a transect across the Greenland Sea from Longyearbyen, Svalbard to Reykjavik, Iceland on the RV Merian. The study, funded by German Science Foundation (DFG), evaluated speciation processes and ecological niches of deep-sea copepods in polar seas. [CMarZ contact: Sigrid Schiel]

   The Chinese Antarctic Expedition during February/March 2006 yielded zooplankton samples for taxonomic analysis through CMarZ. Identified specimens are being DNA barcoded. [CMarZ contact: Sun Song]

II.

Antarctic / Southern Ocean

  Zooplankton sampling were carried out during four cruise legs of the R/V Polarstern: Lazarev Sea (November 2005 - January 2006 and June - August 2006); Bellingshausen Sea (February - April 2006 ); and western Weddell Sea (August - October 2006) [CMarZ contact: Sigrid Schiel]

III.

Indian Ocean

  The French program OISO may provide opportunities for CMarZ sampling of zooplankton in the Indian Ocean. The lead for this program is Nicolas Metzl. [CMarZ contact: Colomban de Vargas]

  SW Indian Ocean: African Coelocanth Ecology Programme (ACEP) off the east coast of Southern Africa,including Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. (August 2004 and April-May 2005) [CMarZ contact: Hans Verheye]  

  SW Indian Ocean: 'Madex' cruise on RRS Discovery south of Madagascar. (February 2005)  [CMarZ contact: Hans Verheye]

  SE Asia: Samples will be collected using nets and ROV during an expedition to the Celebes, Halmahera and   Banda Seas,  Indonesia  in the fall of 2006.  Funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration, the National Geographic Society and Conservation International, the project is titled 'Inner-space Speciation Project'. (Oct.-Nov., 2006) [CMarZ contact: Larry Madin] 

IV.

N. Pacific Ocean

   "Structure and Biodiversity in Deep-Sea Pelagic Ecosystems in Southeast Asian Marginal Seas: Census of Marine Zooplankton Asian Regional Study"  Sampling to 5000m with IONESS-1, DSRV, Deep-tow system, Norpac net, ORI-net, IKMT, baited trap. Formalin/alcohol fixation. Day/night sampling. Morphological/genetic analysis.  Dedicated CMarZ cruise in the Philippine, Celebes, Sulu Seas.  Proposed for 2008. [CMarZ contact: Shuhei Nishida]

Comprehensive survey of zooplankton biodiversity. Collections will be made using nets, ROVs, and submersibles, as part of a field effort to be proposed to the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science during 2007/2008. [CMarZ contact: Shuhei Nishida]

   Many new species were found using the ROV "Tiburon" diving deeper than 2000m, SCUBA diving at the surface and deep night towing off Monterey Bay, California. 10-17 May and 27 Sept - 4 Oct 2006. See article [CMarZ contact: Steve Haddock]

   SEA sailing vessel SSV Robert C. Seamans sailed extensively in the central Pacific Ocean, collecting surface zooplankton samples in regions rarely sampled by oceanographic research vessels. ongoing [CMarZ contact: Peter Wiebe]

   A cruise will be sponsored by Japan Science Society, Oceanographic Society of Japan, and Tokai Univ. The title of this cruise is "Let's study the sea with research vessel", especially geared toward high school students. (31 July - 5 Aug. 2006) [CMarZ contact: Ryuji Machida]

  Hokaido to Tokyo, on a JAMSTEC ship.  Research focus on planktonic foraminifera; also analyses of other micro-biomineralizers such as radiolarians, diatoms, coccolithophoress, dinoflagellates, and even copepods. June 2006.  [CMarZ contact: Colomban de Vargas]

  Zooplankton sampling was done with a conical opening/closing net on the R/V Beidou during April 10-29 2006. [CMarZ contact: Sun Song]

   A research cruise in Sagami Bay, coastal waters of Japan, sampled zooplankton for taxonomic analysis. (29 Nov.-10 Dec. 2005) [CMarZ contact: Shuhei Nishida]

  HOT (Hawaii Ocean Timeseries) cruises: HOT-cruise #169 (May 16 – 20, 2005) [CMarZ contact: Colomban de Vargas]

  Gulf of Alaska, US-GLOBEC, Seward Line cruise plan (8-12 May 2005 and 12-16 Oct. 2005) [CMarZ contact: Russ Hopcroft]  

V.

S. Pacific Ocean

  COPAS Center research focused on upwelling dynamics and pelagic communities in the Eastern South Pacific. Multinet tows to 1000m.  March-June 2008. [CMarZ contact: Rubén Escribano]

  COPAS Time series of Concepcion.  Time series study started in 2002 and currently ongoing on a monthly scale over the shelf and seasonal at continental slope off Concepcion, Chile (36° S).  Stratified Tucker Trawls to 600m during Jan-Dec 2006-2010. [CMarZ contact: Rubén Escribano]

  Equatorial W. Pacific Ocean. Cruise led by James Murray (Univ. Washington, USA) transect from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea (140oW to 148oE) on the R/V Kilo Moana to sample water column and organisms for heavy metals, with ancillary sampling for CMarZ at 5 - 10 stations during August 15 - October 1, 2006. [CMarZ contact: Ann Bucklin]

  COPAS Center research focused on plankton communities in the oxygen minimun zone ecosystem of the Eastern South Pacific.  Multinet tows to 800m during October 2-12 (2006). [CMarZ contact: Rubén Escribano]

  Hakuho-Maru Cruise KH-04-5 from the Antarctic to tropical North Pacific (170W-line). Samples are available to the CMarZ Network. (November 2004 to March 2005) [CMarZ contact: Shuhei Nishida]

  Coastal ecosystems of Indonesia, including Spermonde Archipelago, Strait of Makassar, SW Sulawesi, with sampling from small boats. (Spring and Fall, 2005) [CMarZ contact: Sigrid Schiel]

  A field sampling opportunity in and around Australia and the South Pacific in 2007 and 2008 is offered by Graham Short, owner of the 60-foot ketch Mustang.  Further details. [CMarZ contact: Ann Bucklin] 

    VI.

 N. Atlantic Ocean and marginal seas

  Bongo samples around Scotland, in ethanol and formalin, during 2006. [CMarZ contact: Steve Hay]

  Annual survey in December to the Faroe-Shetland region. Specimen material is in ethanol and some in liquid nitrogen. [CMarZ contact: Steve Hay]

  Sampling with WP2 net from 0 - 100 m from the subtropical NE Atlantic in the NW African upwelling region from the R/V Meteor during July to August 2006. [CMarZ contact: Sigrid Schiel]

  Fisheries Research Services (FRS) , Marine Laboratory Aberdeen runs two Time Series Collections, similar to Roger Harris' L4 station at Plymouth, one station is on the Scottish west coast (since 2002) and one is near Aberdeen on the east coast (started 1997). Summarized data is incorporated in the ICES CRR -Plankton Status Report and reported on the FRS web site. Weekly plankton collections, environmental samples and measurements are made. This includes full species identifications and counts on phyto and meso-zooplankton (200µm). These background data, valuable to study seasonality etc in themselves, provide an excellent foundation for other short term studies of processes and such, and for validating model results. A few specimens and samples for other researchers can easily be collected. See link [CMarZ contact: Steve Hay]

  Exploring the Deep Sargasso Sea.  CMarZ  cruise on R/V Ron Brown from Charleston, SC to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration Program to sample the tropical/subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean west of the mid-Atlantic ridge (Northern Sargasso Sea, Southern Sargasso Sea, and North Equatorial Region east of the Leeward Islands), to collect and identify zooplankton distributed throughout the entire water column, with a particular focus on the under-sampled mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssopelagic zones. Zooplankton collections from near the seafloor to sea surface were made with 10-m2 MOCNESS, 1-m2 MOCNESS, and 0.25-m2 MOCNESS plus other equipment . (10-30 April 2006) [CMarZ contact: Peter Wiebe]

  US continental shelf regions:  Ecosystem monitoring by the US National Marine Fisheries Service from survey vessels on the northeast  US continental shelf makes quarterly collections of Bongo samples for CMarZ. (2001-2007) [CMarZ contact: Ann Bucklin]

  NW Atlantic Ocean: The SEA (Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA) vessel SSV Corwith Cramer collected samples in right whale feeding grounds in the Slope Water off Cape Cod, MA, and in the Gulf of Maine and east to Sable Island. (2004, 2005) [CMarZ contact: Peter Wiebe]

  Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise #16 (AMT-16) from Cape Town, South Africa to Falmouth, UK (May 15 - June 25, 2005) [CMarZ contact: Colomban de Vargas]

  Icelandic and Norwegian Seas were sampled during a herring survey by the Marine Research Institute on the R/V Árni Fridriksson during . Cruise details (17–30 May 2005) [CMarZ contact: Astthor Gislason, Institute of Marine Research, Iceland]

  Icelandic and Irminger Seas were sampled during the MRI Spring Survey during . See http://www.hafro.is/. (18-28 May 2005) [CMarZ contact: Astthor Gislason, Institute of Marine Research, Iceland]

  Mediterranean/Aegean Seas, Sea of Marmara R/V Bilim (March 2005) [CMarZ contact: Ahmet Kideys

  Offshore surveys for Mackerel eggs along the eastern Atlantic shelf edge. Gulf III 250µm samples to <200m, and many of these from 2004 have an ethanol preserved partner sample. This survey is part of a wider ICES triennial fisheries assessment survey involving a number of European countries, but the samples have only ever been analysed for fish larvae and eggs. The surveys and many archived samples date back some 25 years. Another cruise is planned for 2007. [CMarZ contact: Steve Hay]

VII.

S. Atlantic Ocean

  Sampling in the Benguela Upwelling Region during March/April 2008 from the R/V Meteor will be done using a Multinet to sample down to 2000 m. Project leader is Holger Auel from the University of Bremen, Germany. [CMarZ contact: Sigrid Schiel]

  A west-to-east transect will be sampled along 51°S from the R/V Polarstern. In a project led by Holger Auel (University of Bremen, Germany), zooplankton were collected using a Multinet from 0 - 2000 m, with samples preserved in formaldehyde and ethanol during April-June 2006. [CMarZ contact: Sigrid Schiel]

  SE Atlantic. Three 'proof-of-concept' CPR (Continuous Plankton Recorder) tows were made in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) during October/November 2005 using the MV Tugela. Tows stretched 1,422 nm from Cape Frio, Namibia (18°S, 11°'E) to near East London, South Africa (33°S, 27°E). CPR samples were collected in the Angola-Benguela Frontal Zone, Benguela Current (Atlantic Ocean), and Agulhas Current (Indian Ocean). This extension of the proposed Atlantic Eastern Margin Transect (AEMT) and will serve as a precursor for a new CPR survey in the region.   October/November 2005. [CMarZ contact: Hans Veyheye and Chris Reid]

  Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise #16 (AMT-16), from Cape Town, South Africa to Falmouth, UK (May 15 - June 25, 2005) [CMarZ contact: Colomban de Vargas]

  Pelagic fisheries recruitment survey and fisheries spawning biomass surveys (November 2005), off west and south coasts of South Africa. (May - June 2005) [CMarZ contact: Hans Verheye, Dept. of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, South Africa]

  African Coelacanth Ecology Programme (ACEP) off the east coast of South Africa (April 2005). [CMarZ contact: Hans Verheye, Dept. of Environmental Affairs &Tourism, South Africa]

  SE. Atlantic Ocean: Seasonal Oceanography and Fisheries in the Benguela Current Region as part of the ongoing BENEFIT monitoring program, with monthly zooplankton sampling off southern Angola, central Namibia and the west coast of South Africa. (ongoing) [CMarZ contact: Hans Verheye]

  SE. Atlantic Ocean: Alexander von Humboldt – Angola-Benguela (AHAB) Research and Training Expedition off SW Africa, with sampling of the Angola-Benguela Front (January-February 2004), and off central Namibia. (April 2004) [CMarZ contact: Hans Verheye]