NRP mission Admiral Gago Coutinho

Until 4 November 2018, the mission to maintain the buoy network of the Hydrographic Institute and, at the same time, the first sampling campaign of the AQUIMAR project, on board the hydro-oceanographic ship NRP Almirante Gago Coutinho.

Technical teams from the Navy Hydrographic Institute and divers boarded the ship NRP Admiral Gago Coutinho to maintain the ondograph and multiparametric buoys belonging to the Integrated Environmental Monitoring System of the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone (MONIZEE), which currently comprises seven buoys along the coastal zone of Continental Portugal. Periodic maintenance of buoys is essential to maintain sensor operationality and real-time transmission of meteorological and oceanographic parameters. Given its complexity, this operation requires specialized means and teams.

At the same time, CTD profiles (conductivity, temperature and pressure) and water and sediment sampling will be carried out under the AQUIMAR – Marine Knowledge Supporting Aquaculture project, funded by the Mar2020 Program. This project aims to make a characterization of oceanographic, physicochemical (including contaminants), geochemical and biological conditions to optimize the selection of sites for implantation of aquaculture units, based on the areas already delimited in the Maritime Space Planning Plan. This mission will also have the participation of a scientist from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.