Expedition in Western Ireland

In early January, SOSA co-founder Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart joined the project Cuan na Gaillimhe 2024 (CnaG): a multidisciplinary environmental research survey around western Ireland, funded and managed by the Marine Institute, Ireland. Chief scientists Prof. Dr. Sara Benetti (Ulster University) and Dr. Patrick Orr (University College Dublin) and the team were interested in a unique formation one meter down in the seabed: a layer of millions of Turritella shells!

The defined goals for this expedition included: (1) environmental monitoring to detect changes over time in the structure of marine invertebrate communities, and (2) understanding the carbon budgets of offshore marine settings. Julia supported the expedition as the animal expert, identifying any creatures that were included in seabed samples and keeping voucher specimens that will be preserved for future work in the Senckenberg collections.

Check out the gallery below for images from the expedition.