CV16008 Winter Environmental Monitoring Survey

In 2011 this survey was reestablished as a winter environmental survey with a broader remit to provide supporting information for OSPAR and Water Framework Directive (WFD- Directive 2000/60/EC) assessments and also to maintain the winter time series on key biogeochemical parameters in Irish waters in response to pressures such as land based inputs of nutrients and climate change.

Since 2011 the survey circumnavigates the Island of Ireland every two years. This 13 day survey took place in February 2016 on board the R.V. Celtic Voyager. The survey was designed to collect multidisciplinary information on physical conditions, water chemistry (dissolved nutrients, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity (TA), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved trace metals, and total organic carbon, salinity), sediment chemistry (persistent organic pollutants POPs and trace metals), sediment particle size distribution and benthic macroinvertebrates.