WALDO – Where is ALl the gooD weather nOw?

25 November 2022

From Friday 18 November 2022, until Tuesday 29 November 2022, RV Belgica will be surveying various study areas across the southern North Sea. A team consisting of 6 scientists from the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) and Ghent University set sail for a WALDO-dedicated cruise expedition!

An overview map of the RV Belgica 2022-30 “WALDO” project’s first study areas.

The survey started with acquiring geophysical data from ‘Area A’, located between the IJmuiden Ver and Hollandse Kust West windfarms, off the coast of the Netherlands. The EM304 multibeam system (MBES), the TOPAS PS18 parametric sub-bottom profiler and the multichannel Sparker reflection seismic system have been deployed. Following the completion of this grid, we continued our exploration targeting the next study site.

High-resolution multichannel Sparker seismic reflection system – Data collection aboard RV Belgica.

After a “bumpy” transit towards the north, we finally arrived in ‘Area B’, located in the Oyster Ground, close to Dogger Bank. The MBES and TOPAS systems have been used to collect bathymetric, backscatter and seismic data.

Example of marine seismic data acquisition display.
Example of the data collection process with the multibeam sonar.

Under rough sea conditions, we reached ‘Area C’ to continue the survey with the MBES and TOPAS systems. Unfortunately, the bad weather conditions didn’t allow us to complete the mapping as planned. So now, we are off to carry on our survey to the southern part of the North Sea!