This was the fourth and last cruise undertaken as part of the NERC-funded consortium project (NE/C512961/1) entitled ECOMAR - Ecosystem of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the Sub-Polar Front and Charlie Gibbs Fracture Zone. http://www.oceanlab.abdn.ac.uk/ecomar/index.php ECOMAR forms part of the Census of Marine Life MAR-ECO project which is an international study of life in the northern mid-Atlantic Ocean with scientists from 16 nations participating in research of the waters around the mid-Atlantic Ridge from Iceland to the Azores (http://www.mar-eco.no). Depart: Wednesday, 26 May, St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. Long term moorings were recovered at four super stations at a bottom depth of 2500m equipped with sediment traps, current meters, ADCP and sensor suites, SE - 49°01.92'N, 27°40.82'W, SW - 48°46.80'N, 28°38.43'W, NW - 53°59.33'N, 36°07.39'W and NE 54°00.05'N 34°10.58'W. Video and still images of the sea floor were obtained during 4 lander deployments and 21 ISIS ROV dives. Faunas samples were taken on 17 of these ROV dives, further samples from 13 successful megacorer casts and 4 baited traps. High definition video sea floor surveys were completed of approximately 50,000 m2 of sea floor. Arrive: Vigo, Spain, Saturday 3 July 2010.

The objective of cruise JC103 was to service the moorings of the RAPID 26°N project that are deployed to monitor the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. For each mooring instruments were recovered, data were downloaded and instruments were redeployed. A number of CTDs were made to calibrate the instruments from the moorings. During passage from port of Spain to Nassau trial CTDs were completed in the waters of the Turks and Caicos Islands. After departing Nassau on 29th April work commenced on the western boundary sub-array comprising of moorings WBADCP, WBAL, WB1, WB2, WB2l, WB2h, WB4 and WB4L. The ship returned to Nassau on 6th May to disembark one person before sailing east once again. The final mooring of the wester sub-array was serviced on 8th May before continuing east to the mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) sub-array. Work on the MAR sub-array commenced on 13th May at mooring MAR0. The other moorings in this sub-array were MAR1, MAR1L, MAR2, MAR3 and MAR3L were all completed by 18th May. On the following day the NOG mooring was deployed and as the ship transited to the astern sub-array the first of 5 Argo floats was deployed on 21st May. The eastern boundary sub-array starts at EB1, which was serviced on 23rd May. Following this moorings at EB1L, EBHi, EBH1, EBH2, EBh3,EBh4 and EBH4L in the following days up until 31st May. A number of CTDs were completed form 31st may to 2nd June.

The three key objectives of our original proposal were to test: 1. The hypothesis that mantle upwelling and melting is focused at the centres of slow spreading ridge segments and transposed by sub-horizontal flow away from there. 2. The hypothesis that plate accretion and separation mechanisms are fundamentally different in 'magma-starved' areas. 3. Mechanisms of detachment faulting and extensional strain localisation in the lower crust and upper mantle. We proposed to achieve these objectives by detailed surveying and sampling across an extensive region of magma-poor seafloor spreading around Fifteen Twenty Fracture Zone (FTFZ), coupled with microstructural, geochemical and palaeomagnetic analyses. TOBI deep-towed sidescan and magnetic data were to be obtained both to inform the choice of sampling sites and to aid in structural, lithological and geodynamic interpretations. We spent 29 days on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) in the vicinity of 13 to 15N. We collected multibeam ship-based bathymetry, gravity and magnetic data and TOBI sidescan, magnetic and water-column data from a total area of about 8,000 km2. We recovered samples from 47 drill and dredge stations throughout the area, in support of the objectives.

The cruise is a component of RAPID-WATCH, whose objectives are: to deliver a decade-long time series of calibrated and quality-controlled measurements of the Atlantic MOC from the RAPID-WATCH array and; to exploit the data from the RAPID-WATCH array and elsewhere to determine and interpret recent changes in the Atlantic MOC, assess the risk of rapid climate change, and investigate the potential for predictions of the MOC and its impacts on climate. Objectives of this cruise: to recover, calibrate and redeploy moorings from the eastern boundary and mid-Atlantic ridge subarrays of the 26.5N line of RAPID moorings.

Timing and frequency of landslide and gravity flow geohazards along the eastern North Atlantic continental margin This research cruise was a contribution towards the NERC strategic science programme (Oceans 2025). The main scientific objective was to improve our understanding of landslide and gravity flow geohazards along the eastern North Atlantic margin, in particular by studying event timing and frequency in the recent geological record. Special attention was being paid to geohazards that may potentially impact UK communities and infrastructure. Shallow piston coring of turbidite successions in deep basins produces the best record of recent (<50 kyrs) gravity flow events on adjacent margins (e.g. Weaver et al., 2000), but the availability of pre-existing data from the study area was patchy. Consequently, a key aim of JC027 was to 'fill the gaps' and recover cores from basins, or sections of basins, where data are urgently required. A total of 60 piston and megacores was successfully recovered during the cruise, from a series of lower canyon and basin floor environments. Shallow geophysical data, including subbottom profiles and hull-mounted multibeam bathymetry, were collected quasi-continuously during the cruise to define local environment around core sites. In complex areas, such as seafloor scours, Autosub6000 was deployed to collect high-resolution EM2000 multibeam bathymetry.