Following a brief port stop at KAUST, the Aegaeo put to sea on June 25 with its course set northward toward Red Sea Project Lagoon.  Sampling began at first light on June 27. The focus was on catching the signals of water and sediment transport through two of the main channels connecting the Lagoon with the open waters of the Red Sea. 

The Aegaeo secured to the KAUST dock on June 25.  The Aegaeo’s stay at KAUST lasted for a few hours while scientific instrumentation was offloaded for storage at KAUST and later use in the Arabian Gulf field surveillance.

At KAUST. Cruise leader Aleka Pavlidou (4^th from right) and the Aegaeo’s science crew assembled on the front deck for a group photo to say goodbye to Abdullah Amoudi (NCEC).

During the Lagoon sampling, all on board took in the area’s beauty and were impressed by the transparent clean waters. The sampling at the deep sites was done from the Aegaeo, whereas the Aegaeo’s zodiac was used to sample the shallow sites inside the channels.

Location of Red Sea Project Lagoon (left) and our sampling locations (right).

The work at the area also included deployment of two moorings, at the west and north channels of the Lagoon (sites are shown with red marks). Each was equipped with a CTD to acquire continuous measurements of temperature, salinity, turbidity and oxygen concentration.

Various on-board chemical analysis took place in the Aegaeo’s chemical lab. These included determination of ammonium, chlorine, fluoride, dissolved oxygen (DO), sulfides, biological oxygen demand (BOD) and onboard chlorophyll-a and particle filtration and extraction processes of organic compounds.