On the sixth June 2017, a global crew of scientists led by Dr. Ewan Wakefield departed Southampton on the Royal Analysis Ship Discovery. Their cruise quantity was DY080 and their intention was to collect a number of knowledge from an space within the mid-Atlantic the place the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) interrupts the mid-Atlantic ridge between the Azores and Iceland. On this space, polar and southern waters meet and type a perennial however shifting entrance. Main fronts of the world’s oceans help comparatively excessive ranges of major and secondary manufacturing and are usually vital foraging hotspots for wide-ranging increased predators, similar to pelagic seabirds. Ewan and colleagues noticed that monitoring knowledge highlighted the sub-Polar Entrance of the North Atlantic as a doubtlessly vital space for each migratory and locally-breeding seabirds. Specifically, the advanced area of the sub-polar entrance south of the CGFZ, the place the North Atlantic Present crosses the mid-Atlantic ridge, is focused by seabirds from a number of populations. As well as, a small however rising physique of proof means that different wide-ranging taxa, together with cetaceans, tuna and marine turtles, additionally mixture south of the CGFZ. As proof from monitoring knowledge mounts, Fowl Life Worldwide is making ready to submit a proposal to OSPAR to designate this space as an Essential Fowl Space.
The cruise route (yellow), with the North Atlantic Present (inexperienced). The proposed Essential Fowl Space (pink). The Scientific Staff (backside proper). From left to proper: Igor Belkin, Vladimir Laptikhovsky, Paulo Catry, Ali Al-Hashem, Holly Hogan, Simon Pinder, Julie Miller, Ewan Wakefield, Paloma Carvalho, Laura Thompson, Nadya Ramirez-Martinez, Marguerite Tarzia, Guilherme Bortolotto de Oliveira, Claire Lacey, and Tom Browning.
Regardless of these advances in monitoring knowledge, only a few direct observations have been made of upper predators within the CGFZ. Consequently there’s a lack of understanding on predator distribution, abundance and weight-reduction plan – info that’s mandatory for efficient administration and safety. Observational proof would additionally serve to handle elementary ecological questions, similar to how oceanic increased predators partition niches, how they join disparate ecosystems and the way these processes are affected by local weather change.
On this episode, we hear from PSO (Principal Scientific Officer) Dr. Ewan Wakefield and Marguerite Tarzia representing Birdlife Worldwide on the cruise. Collectively, they clarify the motivation behind the analysis and the way a multi-disciplinary crew ended up on a ship heading off to the center of the ocean…
The NERC flag catching the ‘breeze’ on the RRS Discovery (Photograph: Julie Miller)
Cruise DY080 types a part of a UK Pure Atmosphere Analysis Council (NERC)-funded challenge Seabirds and wind – the results of utmost prey taxis in a altering local weather, which goals to quantify the previous and future distributions and ecosystem roles of pelagic seabirds within the CGFZ and related areas.
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This podcast collection was designed, recorded and narrated by Julie Miller, and edited by Martina Quaggiotto and Taya Forde.
Characteristic picture: Royal Analysis Ship Discovery, courtesy of Julie Miller.
Music throughout the podcast from “(One other) Swan Track” by The New Mystikal Troubadours, accessed from freemusicarchive.org.
Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]
