NRP Hydrographic Campaign “Admiral Gago Coutinho” in the Autonomous Region of the Azores in 2018

The Navy, through the Hydrographic Institute, is located in the Autonomous Region of the Azores to carry out top-hydrographic surveys, within the scope of the Portuguese Sea Mapping Project, whose main objective is to contribute to the knowledge of the seabed, necessary to promote technical-scientific and economic development activities in the areas of national interest and the corresponding cartographic update.

In this campaign, which began on 4 May and will continue until 24 June, collaboration with regional entities is duly framed by the Cooperation Protocol signed in 2017 between the Hydrographic Institute and the Regional Secretariat of the Sea, Science and Technology of the Azores, in order to boost and promote, in a collaborative way, the research and knowledge of the sea in the Azores region.

The work, in a first phase, during the month of May, will focus on the hydrographic surveys of the bank of the Giant between the island of Faial and the island of Flores, but also around the islands of Flores and Corvo, places where there is currently a great lack of information about the marine bottoms with high resolution. Throughout the mission, researchers from Açorian universities and research institutes will regularly be present in a collaborative and information sharing perspective.

In the period from 3 to 24 June, and after the basic hydrographic characterization has been carried out, the Navy and the Hydrographic Institute will collaborate with the Blue Ocean Foundation, the EMECC, the National Geographic and scientific institutions of the autonomous region of the Azores, in a collaborative research work on the Azores Sea, which includes the realization of a documentary and several dives of the ROV LUSO, which is already aboard the NRP “Admiral Gago Coutinho”.