Snow at sea: an uncommon experience for our Portuguese guests

Above the Arctic Circle, snow is no stranger to spring. It is, however, a more uncommon sight for our guests from southern Europe, who were overtaken by childlike wonder. Pictures were taken and snowballs were thrown.

While the work does not stop, getting to watch snowflakes fall while rinsing and sorting through samples collected from the deep is an unparalleled opportunity for those who joined the cruise as early career researchers. Inês Albuquerque and Marlene Pinheiro come aboard as guests from Portugal:

Hello! We are both early career scientists and members of TwinDEEPS, an EU Twinning project aiming to increase research and innovation capacity of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR, University of Porto), and Portugal, in deep-sea research. The Institute of Marine Research is one of the partner institutions of TwinDEEPs, and this partnership made our presence possible: a first cruise experience for the both of us.

We have learned so much about the deep sea and how deep-sea scientific expeditions are run, even though the cruise isn’t even halfway through. We have had the chance to participate in live video annotation of deep-sea species and habitats, as well as to process samples collected by the ROV Ægir6000 (NORMAR) during multiple dives between 1000 and 3000 m water depth. Additionally, we had the opportunity to have a closer look at the fauna sampled through the stereomicroscope and learn about the characteristics of species found in this area. We even joined the geologists’ team, explored what they study, and helped process one of their gravity corers from one of the full stations. It has been an incredible experience filled with learning, hard work, comradery, and now…snow!!!