20th April 2021
Oceanographic sampling from the RV Celtic Explorer with a CTD/rosette. A CTD measures conductivity (which helps determine salinity), temperature and depth
Credit: Tomasz Szumski
Scientists from the Marine Institute, Maynooth University and the National University of Ireland Galway were recently aboard the RV Celtic Explorer, for a 14-day scientific survey studying the shelf and deep water off the west coast of Ireland. This Marine Institute’s annual ocean climate survey has been running since 2006 and facilitates long-term physical and biogeochemical observations of the deepwater environment in the South Rockall Trough.
The Rockall Trough is an important region that provides a pathway for the transport of heat and salt from the North-East Atlantic to the Nordic Seas, where waters are subjected to phenomena such as deep convective mixing that creates cold dense water. Water exchange and interactions in the Rockall Trough play a fundamental part in the overall th