FS Poseidon Cruise 300/1, 04 Jul - 16 Jul 2003. Biogeochemistry at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Observatory

There were two main objectives of this cruise. Both focus on the long term observatory site on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP) at 49N 16.5W. The first objective was to recover and redeploy various moorings and landers some of which were part of the EU funded ANIMATE project. The second objective which contributes to the NERC funded BICEP project was to measure particulate export from the surface layer using a variety of complementary approaches and to characterise the site from a biological and chemical perspective in order to interpret the export data. Almost all of the objectives were successfully achieved.