Day 1: Departing from Mauritius
After arriving in Port Louis from the first leg of the Indian Ocean journey, a new team of scientists climbed on board to join the second and final leg of this Nansen Indian ocean survey.
18 scientists representing 8 different nationalities (Norway, South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Canada, Tanzania, Spain, and Seychelles) will take part in the survey trip. On this this 18 July – 6 August second leg work will concentrate on selected habitats on the Madagascar Ridge, in order to develop methods for habitat mapping and ecosystem classification.
On Saturday, 18 July all the cruise participants met on board the R/V Dr Fridtjof Nansen. We had our pre-survey meeting at 10.00 am.
Three teams were formed, namely plankton, benthos and image analysis, although collaboration between them will be ensured whenever needed. There was an open discussion about the research to be undertaken, and how the thematic teams could best work together.
After discussing the scientific work of the cruise, we familiarized ourselves with the research vessel and the Chief Officer arranged a safety briefing for the scientists.
At 16:00 local time the ship left Mauritius harbour, to start the second leg of the journey across the Indian Ocean. We will continue to keep you updated with photos and videos as was done during Leg 1.
We are pleased to have you (virtually) back on board with us on this interesting survey.
22/07/2015