After completing our sampling at National Aquaculture Group Shrimp and Fish Farms near Al Lith, Aegaeo vessel sailed southwards to jazan Economic City and started acquiring samples and data from the coastal zone adjacent to the city waterfront on 22^nd of June, with the first daylight. The sampling grid aims to provide the current impact of the urban area on the coastal zone and will further provide baseline data to assess the impacts of future growth.

While sailing to Jazan Economic City, various on-board chemical analysis took place at the chemical lab.

Abdullah Amoudi (NCEC) on Dissolved Oxygen analysis in collaboration with Gioula Zachioti (HCMR).

Sampling took place with Aegaeo vessel and the field work was completed exactly as scheduled in the study plan. 

Location of Jazan Economic City (left) and our Sampling Locations (right). Water and sediment samples were taken at the green stations, while CTD measurements were performed at all stations (yellow and green).

June 22 – Al Shuqaiq

Two hours of cruising from Jazan Economical City brought us to Al Shuqaiq at about 13:00. 

Al Shuqaiq industrialized area as seen while approaching with the Aegaeo’s zodiac.

The operations at Al Shuqaiq began as soon as we arrived at the area, and the work was done entirely using Aegaeo’s zodiac. CTD casts were carried out in order to trace the brine plume from the Shuqaiq Desalination Plant. The work at the area included the deployment of a mooring equipped with a CTD to acquire continuous measurements of temperature, salinity, turbidity and oxygen concentration.

Location of Al Shuqaia (left) and our Sampling Locations (right). Water and sediment samples were taken at the green stations, while CTD measurements were performed at all stations (yellow and green).

Aleka Pavlidou together with (left to right) Vassilis Bampas, George Pappas and Dionysis Ballas (HCMR) in the Aegaeo’s zodiac Portable CTD and NISKIN sampling bottles were used for measurements and water sampling.

Abdullah Amoudi (NCEC) and Elvira Plakidi (HCMR) working on the extraction of hydrocarbons from the seawater samples taken from Al Shuqaiq.