Blog entry by Lisa Skein & Luis Greiffenhagen
The last scientific work finished around 20:00 when the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) came back on deck, and that’s the end of scientific operations for JC237! In today’s science meeting, we had summary presentations from all the scientific disciplines including bathymetric mapping, oceanography, sedimentology, geology and biology. These presentations were great as a recap of all that has been accomplished in the past five weeks, and myself (and I think everyone) was once again blown away by the incredible amount of precious deep-sea data that’s been collected. This work will help to shed light on the inner workings of submarine canyons and abyssal plains, and will also enable us to better protect and manage habitats like these in the future. In addition to all the hard work, it has also been great to have the opportunity to make new friends from across the world. After quite literally being ‘in the same boat’ for five weeks, you do start to feel like a little seagoing family!
After these presentations, we headed for dinner (the last curry night of the cruise, sadly), after which we had some good chats in the lounge. We are currently on our way back to Southampton and I think everyone is quite excited to see land for the first time in a month!
This cruise would not have been what it was without an amazing PI, Veerle Huvenne (NOC). Thank you Veerle for ensuring that we had a great working environment, for all the organising, and for everything else going on behind the scenes that we didn’t know about! It’s been an honour sailing with you. A big thank you also to Captain John Leask, officers and crew of the RRS James Cook. None of this would have been possible without your hard work, and hopefully we’ll sail together again soon!
