CE18011 Controls of Cold-Water Coral Habitats in Submarine Canyons II (CoCoHaCa2)

This survey, led by University College Cork. took place on board the RV Celtic Explorer in July/August 2018 in the North East Atlantic Ocean. ROV (remotely operated vehicles) surveys were carried out to to define the distribution of benthic facies throughout the Porcupine Bank Canyon, to understand the recent and contemporary benthic processes influencing canyon development and habitat distribution in and around the canyon and yo establish a series of recommendations for ROV-mounted multibeam seabed mapping for heterogenous and steep/irregular seabed-types. A total of 12 ROV dives were completed. 1. To define the distribution of benthic facies throughout the Porcupine Bank Canyon 2. To understand the recent and contemporary benthic processes influencing canyon development and habitat distribution in and around the canyon 3. To establish a series of recommendations for ROV-mounted multibeam seabed mapping for heterogenous and steep/irregular seabed-types 4. To generate a series of recommendations for site surveys by industrial activities to ensure responsible practice (MMonKey_Pro) 5. To understand background sedimentary processes, elucidating from cold-water coral driven sedimentary processes thereby understanding palaeo-hydrodynamic influences on cold-water coral habitat development within the Porcupine Bank Canyon (MMonKey_Pro and CoMa_CoP) 6. To model contemporary flow and sediment dynamics throughout the canyon system (MMonKey_Pro and CoMa_CoP) 7. To characterise the canyons exposed bedrock and link to geological basin development and basement formation