RRS Discovery Cruise DY017, 20 Oct - 05 Nov 2014. Outer Hebrides process cruise

The continental shelf region immediately west of the UK and North of Ireland is thought to be a key region for the exchange of nutrients, carbon and water between the NW European continental shelf and the open North Atlantic Ocean yet it remains comparatively under sampled. Within the context of the NERC/DEFRA co-funded Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry programme, which aims to improve our understanding of the role of shelf seas in the global carbon cycle, this cruise undertook a regional scale survey to determine the distribution and concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon, inorganic nutrients, trace metals, and other ancillary data on the Malin and Hebridean Shelves. Of the seven planned transects, six were completed with the seventh abandoned due to poor weather but a rich dataset of key biogeochemical parameters has been collected which will enable work on the stoichiometry of dissolved nutrients and exchange with the open ocean to be undertaken.