In late July 2026, TRICUSO colleague Sophie Clayton (NOC) was among a group of scientists who set out from Killibegs, a small port in Ireland, to cross the North Atlantic and complete the GO-SHIP AR7E section, and to undertake the first European-led contribution to the UN Ocean Decade-endorsed Bio-GO-SHIP programme.
The plan was to cross from Ireland to the east coast of Greenland stopping roughly every 20 nautical miles to collect data and water samples spanning the entire basin, followed up by a series of four short transects crossing the east Greenland shelf from the coast to the open ocean.
The cruise was a truly international collaboration. It was led by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC), undertaken on the Irish research vessel the R/V Celtic Explorer, and the team of 19 scientists representing 15 different nations. They spent three weeks at sea with two teams alternating 12-hour shifts, enabling work around the clock.
Elena García-Martín (NOC) and G. Sofia Limeira (University of Lisbon), along with Sophie, were the “Bio Team”. They collected samples, primarily from the upper ocean to characterise the plankton community, including eDNA, over 900K images of plankton and particles and chlorophyll and HPLC pigment samples. The samples and images were collected at all 69 stations, with more intensive sampling every third station for “Bio” stations.
Their sea legs (and stomachs for some) were tested in the first couple of days as they dealt with some stormy weather, but by the end of the week, everything settled into a nice routine. They spent 10 days crossing the Atlantic before getting the first view of the coast of Greenland, which came on a beautiful sunny day, offering a nice view of icebergs. The clear weather did not last long, however, as the ship became immersed in fog for days. Despite not being able to see anything, the crew learned that they were completely surrounded by icebergs, which were detected only by the ship’s radar. The last couple of days were spent in transit to Iceland in flat, calm seas, blue skies and sunshine offering glimpses of puffins and whales as the ship neared Reykjavik.
Most of the cruise participants travelled home on the afternoon of August 12th, the day of the total solar eclipse, and some were even lucky enough to see it from the sky as they flew home.
An amazing end to an excellent adventure!
And, as part of the preparation for this cruise, the team submitted the first ever notification to BBNJ for the collection of samples for marine genetic resources, which is quite a special distinction.
Thanks to Sophie Clayton for the work she has done on behalf of TRICUSO and for sharing her story.
