Oceanographic campaign TRIDENT

The oceanographic campaign TRIDENT, took place onboard the research vessel (RV) Mário Ruivo between 13 and 30 June 2024. IPMA successfully coordinated this international mission, which was the longest in recent years with the RV Mário Ruivo.

This international mission, whose scientific leader is Dr. Pedro Terrinha from IPMA, involved 24 researchers from five European institutions: the Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC), the University of Cork (UCC) in Ireland, the Technological Research Centre of the University of Algarve (CINTAL), the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC) and IPMA.

The TRIDENT project is coordinated by INESC TEC and has European funding of around 16 million euros through the Horizon Europe Programme, bringing together 25 public and private institutions, including six Portuguese ones.

On this mission, data was acquired that allows for a better understanding of local oceanographic characteristics, the morphology and nature of the seabed, the biology of the seabed, the speed of ocean currents, contributing to long-term monitoring of the properties of water near the seabed, as well as the biogeochemistry of bottom sediments. For this purpose, equipment operated on board the RV Mário Ruivo, fixed and drifting moorings with hydrophones for listening the environmental noise, automated monitoring stations and autonomous robotic underwater mapping equipment were used.