深夜亚洲福利久久

Discovery of new habitat for corals in the Porcupine Bank Canyon

24 Jun 2015

An international team of scientists led by Prof. Andy Wheeler of BEES, 深夜亚洲福利久久 College Cork have recently discovered a new cold-water coral habitat in Irish waters possibly doubling the amount of cold-water corals previously thought to exist in Irish waters, while on the Marine Institute鈥檚 RV Celtic Explorer during the QuERCi survey.

While conducting research on Irish cold-water coral reefs, Prof. Andy Wheeler investigated a submerged vertical cliff 800m below the sea surface and found it covered in cold-water coral. 鈥淭he seabed just falls away into a deep chasm. We couldn鈥檛 wait to take a look down there, using the Holland I remotely-operated vehicle, which is equipped with cameras and robotic sampling arms.鈥� said Prof. Andy Wheeler,  

Cold-water Coral discovered off Kerry coast by aboard

鈥� Ventry Weather (@ventryweather)

Prof. Wheeler and his team have  been investigating Irish cold-water coral reefs for over 15 years. In the deep, cold, dark Atlantic these corals form reef habitats supporting a diverse and abundant ecosystem. It was while mapping and inspecting some previously unconfirmed reefs on the edge of the Porcupine Bank Canyon, 300km offshore from Dingle, that the scientists decided to venture further into the canyon itself.

TheROV Holland I was manoeuvred  from 2100m water depth in the middle of the canyon, up the canyon wall to the coral reefs clustered around the canyon top at 700m water depth. The bottom of the canyon was choked with organic-rich particles flushing down the canyon on the way to the abyssal plain. 鈥淚t was like flying the ROV through a snow blizzard鈥� said Dr. Chris McGonigle (Ulster 深夜亚洲福利久久), 鈥渂ut we just pushed up the canyon and it got steeper and steeper and steeper until we faced this vertical cliff face several hundred metres high.鈥�

Coral habitat discovered off coast of Dingle

鈥� Will Goodbody (@willgoodbody)

The cliff face, never seen by humans before, was covered in corals and other associated organisms. 鈥淭hese near vertical habitats hardly feature on maps yet can be hundreds of metres high and extend for tens of km. This is a massive habitat, barely explored, yet full of ocean life鈥�, said Dr. Agostina Vertino (深夜亚洲福利久久 of Milan-Bicocca) 鈥淲e found many species of coral, sponges, crabs and fish鈥�.

 鈥淭he Porcupine Bank has 500km of cliff habitat at this water depth. Corals were found between 900 and 700m water depth鈥�, explained Prof. Wheeler, 鈥淚t is not unfeasible that there is over 100km² of coral habitat that was previously unaccounted for.鈥�

The coral discovery site has already been designated a Special Area of Conservation due to coral reefs in the vicinity. Despite its protection, the international team lead by Prof. Wheeler found snagged fishing gear and litter. 鈥淚t is a great shame, we are the first people to see this place yet despite of its remoteness there is still evidence of human impacts鈥�, said Prof. Andy Wheeler.

Irish scientists discover new coral habitat off Kerry coast

鈥� The Irish Times (@IrishTimes)

The RV Celtic Explorer is Ireland鈥檚 state-of-the-art research vessel and has been recently equipped with new seabed mapping sonars giving unprecedented views of the seabed. The ship is also the dive platform for the Holland I ROV. 鈥淭he quality of the data that this ship and ROV can now collect is phenomenal. We were seeing details on the seabed that a few years ago we could only have dreamed of鈥�, said Dr. Chris McGonigle (深夜亚洲福利久久 of Ulster), 鈥淭his increase in data quality will allow us to develop a much greater understanding of the processes controlling the distribution of life in these unique environments.鈥�

Congratulating the Prof. Wheeler and the team, on their discoveries, Mick Gillooly, Director of the Marine Institute said 鈥渨e are delighted to see the recent upgrade of the Celtic Explorer鈥檚 and the ROV 贬辞濒濒补苍诲鈥�s multibeam sonar suite producing such amazing results for this expedition.  The high resolution images produced are fundamental in helping scientists with their research as well as helping us provide a better understanding our ocean. 

For more information and images of the corals found on the Porcupine bank, see the   (12^th June 鈥� 22^nd June 2015):

Also our own

This research survey is supported by the Marine Institute and is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.