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Fieldwork

Members of the cruise team work together to prepare the CTD rosette for deployment. Photo by Claire Garfield, UGA.
The science personnel of C-CoMP Cruise AE2520 (and Clio) stand together on the stern of the R/V Atlantic Explorer after the end of the September 2025 cruise. Parts of the Woods Hole dock and village frame the background of the photo. Photo provided by Elizabeth Kujawinski and edited by Laura Gray.
Microbial biomass concentrated on the surface of a filter that was removed from Clio. Photo credit: McKenzie Powers, University of Georgia.
The R/V Atlantic Explorer docked in Woods Hole after the first C-CoMP Cruise in March 2025. Photo credit: Laura Gray, WHOI.
Group photo of C-CoMP cruise personnel on the bow of the RV Atlantic Explorer at the end of the first C-CoMP cruise. Photo credit: Elizabeth Kujawinski, WHOI.
A wave crashes on the deck of the RV Atlantic Explorer during a storm, a rough sea streaked with white water and a stormy, grey sky visible in the background. Photo by McKenzie Powers, University of Georgia.
Team collects seawater from the CTD rosette on the deck of the RV Atlantic Explorer. Photo credit: Emily Hu, Brown University.
Clio, the biogeochemical auv, hovering just at the surface prior to diving. Photo credit: Claire Garfield, University of Georgia.
Claire Garfield and McKenzie Powers monitor filtering progress in the lab on the RV Atlantic Explorer during the C-CoMP March 2025 cruise. Photo credit: Erin Maybach, Columbia University.

C-CoMP Cruise #1 - AE2504

Dates: March 9 - 22, 2025

Transit: St. George's, Bermuda to Woods Hole, MA

On March 9th 2025, 17 C-CoMP members departed Bermuda on the R/V Atlantic Explorer to explore and compare surface ocean microbial dynamics between the oligotrophic Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study Site (BATS) and the more productive Northeast U.S. Shelf (NES) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Station site. Researchers and crew braved three storms, with 30-40 kt winds and 10-20 ft seas. Despite weather delays and interruptions, the team successfully and safely completed the core mission of the cruise and collected hundreds of samples. The cruise ended in Woods Hole, MA.

The research team and crew undertook a rigorous diel sampling scheme at BATS and the NES LTER station, collecting hundreds of liters of water every 1-4 hours weather permitting. Additionally, two on-board incubations were conducted over several days to track the incorporation of known metabolites through microbial communities sampled at BATS and the LTER site. The team deployed Clio, the biogeochemical autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to collect particle samples from the water column for metagenomics and metaproteomics and test the use of a new metabolomics module. A variety of sample collections and experiments also took place during the cruise. To learn more, please review the AE2504 Cruise Report that is available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15642894).

C-CoMP Cruise #2 - AE2520

Dates: September 2 - 15, 2025

Transit: St. George's, Bermuda to Woods Hole, MA

On September 2nd, 2025, C-CoMP researchers departed Bermuda on the R/V Atlantic Explorer. The goal of the cruise was to compare the microbial dynamics and processes in an oligotrophic region with a more productive region. This cruise was the second of two planned with the same purpose, but to compare the same regions under bloom conditions (spring; AE2504) with more stratified and nutrient-poor conditions (late summer; AE2520). We chose two stations: the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study site (BATS) near Bermuda and the southernmost station of the New England Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER station L11) site west of Connecticut. At each station, we conducted diel sampling near the surface (15m) and placed these samples into context with hydrographic profiles, underway samples, targeted incubations, and large-volume samples from CLIO. We sampled each region within a Lagrangian context, enabled by an SVP drifter deployed at BATS (but not at the LTER site).

In contrast to our spring cruise, we had very favorable weather. Consequently, we added a sampling site (the “Eddy”) for 3-4 days along the transect between BATS and NES-LTER-L11. At this site, we surveyed an anticyclonic eddy, completing a hydrographic survey of the eddy, and sampling the water column in the eddy center and in a gradient to its outward edges. To learn more, please review the AE2520 Cruise Report that is available on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18037119).