A team of oceanographers from SAMS (Scottish Association for Marine Science) overcame the challenge of COVID restrictions to complete a month-long research voyage to the North Atlantic, collecting climate change data.
Restrictions meant that the science team was reduced in number and just 14 (50% of the usual complement) boarded RRS Discovery. The six SAMS scientists quarantined at home prior to being bussed from Oban Scotland to Southampton England to join the icebreaking ship at the beginning of October for the second UK research trip since the lockdown in March 2020.
Originally scheduled for August, the team faced challenging sea conditions but retrieved and redeployed a series of scientific moorings collecting crucial information on how ocean changes are affecting climate.
On their return to the UK, the team, led by Prof. Stuart Cunningham, was dropped off last Saturday on SAMS doorstep in Ardmucknish Bay, saving a week-long trip via Southampton. It gave onlookers in Oban and Lorn area a sighting of the 100-m RRS Discovery, which is one of the few ocean-going research vessels in the UK.