INFOMAR mapping of the Shannon estuary

INFOMAR mapping of the river Shannon commenced onboard the Marine Institute’s research vessel Celtic Voyager on July 19th. Over the course of the two-week survey leg, the estuary mouth was mapped up to the 10m contour, with physical sampling taking place at key locations in order to determine the seabed type (e.g. rock, sand, shell hash etc). The new seabed coverage was merged with existing datasets offshore and upriver. In addition to the geological mapping, a detailed survey was carried out over the wreck of the S.S. Premier – a British cargo steamer that was lost in 1898. This 54m long wreck lies upriver from the survey area, in a general water depth of 21m.

An overview of the survey area at the mouth of the Shannon estuary showing the newly acquired bathymetric data. The solid-colour areas indicate the extent of previous survey work.

The survey area is particularly important for a number of reasons – not only does the area incorporate a busy shipping channel, it is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for resident bottlenose dolphins, and from a geological perspective it overlies an important subterranean structure called the Iapetus Suture Zone – a large seam running through Ireland’s ancient bedrock that marks the closing of an ocean pre-dating the Atlantic by many millions of years.

The survey comprised bathymetric mapping of the seafloor from Kerry Head to Loop Head, with the inner extent lying along the 10m contour. As the area is an SAC for resident dolphins, the acoustic surveying took place during daylight hours only, with seabed sampling operations taking place at night. The sampling was carried out with a mechanical instrument called a “Shipek Grab” – this is a spring-loaded device that, upon being lowered to the seafloor, snaps closed and scoops up a bucket of material. Along with a variety of sediment types, the grab also returned a host of interesting biological specimens – squat lobsters, brittle stars, shrimp, crabs and solitary corals – all of which were logged before being returned safely to the sea.

In addition to the seabed mapping and sampling work, two survey lines were run at night outside the SAC, using a towed “Sparker” system to record a sub-bottom profile of the seabed sediments and bedrock. This device uses an electrical arc to create an acoustic pulse that penetrates the seabed. Where the bedrock is buried beneath soft sediments, this pulse can return a detailed image of the sediment layers and provide information on their thickness.
A variety of interesting seabed features were mapped in detail, and are detailed in the following images. Note that the colour scale represents depth, from deeper (blue) to shallower (red):

Outcrop of folded bedrock off Inishaboy Point, Co Kerry.

Shaded relief bathymetry indicates a channel feature visible in rocky seabed lying north of Kerry Head.
Distinctive layers of limestone off Horse Island, Co Clare.
Folded and faulted bedrock off Loop Head. A 3D multibeam image of the S.S. Premier wreck showing the hull of the vessel lying in a general water depth of 21m.

Multibeam echosounder image of the S.S. Premier in plan view.

INFOMAR marine geologist describes unique discoveries after returning from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Marine geologist Maria Judge based at the Geological Survey of Ireland, reviews data onboard.

The VENTuRE Cruise: Researching and Recovering information from the deep.
As we traversed closer to our destination, the vast grey sea turned a deep sky blue, reflecting mellow sun on a calm day. Onboard the scientists and crew, glistening with excitement, have remained calm and focused on the task at hand: that delicate task of locating hydrothermal vents up to 3000m below this vast ocean expanse.

(Top) The ships crew recover the CTD rosette to the deck. (Below) CTD data received in real-time indicates target locations for the ROV dives.

With the weather on our side, we began the science of locating a sulphide 'plume', as plumes of 'smokey' water are consistently expelled from hydrothermal Vents. For this we use a CTD rosette, guided through the water column at a quarter of a knot in a yoyo motion, during a procedure called Tow-Yo CTDing. Heads were scratched as directions and methodologies were teased out. Finally, as one small pink line deviated across a graph followed closely by the blue line, any tension and risk of not uncovering a signal was quenched! The pink line represents the Eh signal, the blue, temperature. A negative deviation in Eh is indicative of intercepting a layer of seawater containing traces of hydrothermal vent fluid. Our graph is essentially the measure of redox potential, found where fluid rich in hydrogen sulphide mixes with seawater. We look for large anomalies that indicate a strong signal, the strength of the signals represent our proximity to a vent site. When a deflection in Eh is coincident with a temperature increase we can be sure we have located a 'hot spot' close to the vent site. Considering pressure at 3000m, the fluid emitted directly from the vents are roughly ~350°C, this instantly diffusing to ~5°C a few meters from the vent as it mixes with cold sea water, beyond this the background temperature decreases to ~3°C.

After forty hours of CTD sampling, hunting Eh and concurrent temperature signals it appeared as though we had a possible plume signal boxed in. The ROV was deployed in reconnaissance mode, for this we chose a traverse to image. Rigged with a full suite of cameras recording continuously, the ROV has an aft facing camera, a downward facing camera, a forward facing camera and a High Definition camera also facing forward. Most scientists on board are accustomed to vent exploration and as such have enormous regard for the exceptionally unique and incredibly beautiful environment, so once the ROV was close to the bottom, grand excitement had engulfed the scientists on watch. Data management and logging tasks became increasingly difficult under the whirlwind of nervous suspense.
Feeling sick with anticipation, the day watch team had their gaze fixed on a monitor positioned in the now silent science lab. Hanging on to the edge of our chairs, we first spotted the trace of smoke in the water, as powerful lights and lasers on the ROV caught glittering sulphide particles and black soot in the water column. After some foggy navigation through smoky water, elegant columnar chimneys emerged into view. News travelled throughout the ship like electricity; soon the science lab was giddy with animated chatter.

Pilots steer the ROV along the vent target as scientists observe the real-time video in the ROV control cabin.

With the diligent and ever so patient ROV crew carefully navigating through the challenging terrain of the vent field, and a full compliment of scientist fully concentrating on the TV monitors, it was not long before we had a good handle on the main attributes of the vent field. Bellowing black smoke, these rust colored chimney structures have the capability of supporting a community of florescence microbial mats, shell fish, fish, crabs, shrimp and tube worms. Such fauna live solely on the sulphide-rich fluids emitted from the hydrothermal vents. These are one of very few environments in the world that do not rely on any photosynthesis to generate or sustain its community. Hence the significance to the biologists on board, who are keen to compare life around the vent to that already described at other sites.
The vents are also geologically significant for their precipitation of massive amounts of metals in the form of metal sulphide. Ancient ore deposits formed from past hydrothermal venting (called Volcanic Massive Sulphides), now exposed terrestrially, have been extensively mined e.g. the Troodos Ophiolite in Cyprus. Exploration for such deposits is still underway with old volcanic systems now uncovered on land targeted.

Samples are collected from the depths of the ocean by the ROV manipulator arms and stored in compartments until the ROV is recovered.

To understand the geological controls of the vent field, it is important for us to acquire information about the surrounding rock and its tectonic history. For this we first shot a high-resolution multibeam survey over the vents from the ROV. Multibeam uses sonar imaging to present a 3D view of the sea bed over a larger extent than we can image with our cameras. The vents here have an unusual and dramatic setting: perched on the face of a near vertical cliff scarp almost 200m high, they are unique amongst the 210 known vent fields in the world. Such a setting makes surveys and studies of this vent field very difficult and challenging. Plus the hot water surrounding the vents distorts the sonar beams and gives false reflections in mid-water above the seafloor. Our search for more information about this part of the Mid-Atlantic spreading ridge allowed us to utilize time during bad weather when the ROV can not operate. (Top) The rock dredge was deployed to collect rock samples from the seafloor. (Below) Scientist Maria Judge examines rock samples acquired from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

During a window in which our ship pitched and rolled in 3m swells, we took the opportunity to drop a dredge over two previously unsampled flat topped sea mount volcanoes. The dredge is a heavy iron net that is dragged across the seafloor. It cuts through layers of soft sediment until it hits the hard rocky substrate below and drags up whatever it can dislodge along the way. By dredging these hitherto unknown volcanoes, we have gained some samples which, under more detailed scrutiny back home, will cast more light on the volcanic and magmatic processes responsible for creating such an incredibly dynamic environment.
With all Geologists, Biologists and Chemists satisfied by the samples and information acquired from the new vent discovery, we turn on our heels and speed towards the next target, the Moira Mounds. Here we are currently gathering video footage of a protected area at the Porcupine Seabight, famous for its magnificent cold-water coral habitats.
High-octane spirits among the team propelled planning, preparation and procedures toward an exciting scientific discovery and an awe-inspiring reward for all who worked on board. I feel fortunate to have worked with such an adept team. We are looking forward to sharing more details of this wonderful discovery on our return and safe docking in Cork on Thursday the 4th of August
The captain, crew and scientific team gather for a group photo after a highly successful survey.

For more on the VENTuRE cruise, please check out the Science blog spot,
UCC's student website,
And the Marine Institute website.
There is also an article in the Irish Times

INFOMAR marine geologist reports from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

The VENTuRE Cruise, Research and Rescuing information from the deep with GSI based marine geologist Maria Judge onboard.
Location: 45°28.9'N 27°44.5'W Date: 20.07.11 Time: 18:00 hrs
The R.V. Celtic Explorer at Galway docks before sailing for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Holland 1 the Marine Institute's remotely operated vehicle will be used to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and enhance our current knowledge of vent and seep systems.

The scientists and crew of the Venture research survey, to 45°N on Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Irish cold-water corals of the Moira Mounds, have been onboard the R.V. Celtic Explorer since July 11th . This joint venture is lead by Andy Wheeler from University College Cork (UCC) in conjunction with the Marine Institute (MI), National Oceanographic Centre Southampton (NOC) in the United Kingdom, Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI), National University of Ireland, Galway and National Geographic Television. Our venture began by readying our equipment, including the MI's deep-diving ROV "Holland 1" and preparing protocols to handle the huge amounts of data we expect to acquire.
Our mission is highly aspirational (and ambitious); we sail on the RV Celtic Explorer to 45°N, a portion of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in search of Deep Hydrothermal Vents (otherwise known as Black Smokers). We intend to use the Irish ROV Holland, a deep-water remotely operated vehicle, to survey this idiosyncratic environment and its unique chemosynthetic ecosystems. This mission follows an earlier survey carried out at 45°N by NOC in 2008 which studied an Axial Volcanic Ridge and serendipitously discovered water column signatures typical of high temperature hydrothermal venting. These sparse indications were of dark smoky water, some 2600m below the sparkling blue ocean and hovering above the young volcanic ridge.
Our plan for this expedition is to actually find the source of the venting on the deep sea floor, photographically document it, make high-resolution multibeam sonar images and collect rocks and animals from the site. After this, we plan to steam back toward the Moira mounds, cold-water coral mounds in the Porcupine Seabight, to survey, video and sample these beautiful and ecologically valuable habitats.
On the 15th of July, with everyone onboard, we sailed out of a tranquil Galway Bay towards the setting sun. We passed the Galway Bay esker islands, the Aran Islands and daunting Cliffs of Moher standing proud to port and the Galway's granitic coastline framed by the dominating Dalradian metamorphic mountains of Connemara to starboard. Our sunset departure was captured on film from a helicopter by National Geographic TV who is onboard filming a documentary on our deep sea exploration. There was an air of excited anticipation on board, and some anxiety, as we had been experiencing some technical problems that cost us precious time. We were also aware that we would soon be faced with a howling North-west gale conjuring 3 to 4 metre swells.
With the technical issues solved, the mobilisation, calibration and wet tests of the CTD, underwater navigation system, the ROV, and ROV-mounted multibeam echosounder commenced. Happy with the results we steamed ahead into increasingly worsening weather that would actually average a 7m swell. As the waves grew in height and the ship rolled wildly all night, and with concern for the vessel and its expensive cargo, Denis the Captain decided to keep the vessel faced into the wind and hove-to until conditions eased enough to continue the transit. With most of the scientific team seasick, morale was low and concern increased as precious time ticked by.
Meanwhile, some scientists began to feel better, and began the analysis of previously acquired data. It was crucial at this point to constrain a target location and plan the best course of action. We started by integrating data acquired during the NOC cruise in 2008, using programs such as the 3D visualisation software Fledermaus and 2D geographic information mapping software Arc Map, where various layers of information are draped in one virtual environment. This method of display shows the topography of the ocean floor, the magnetic and sidescan imagery of the ocean floor and varying temperature and chemical signatures of the water column all in one visual space. Using our knowledge and some intuitive guess work we compared each attribute to locate the most plausible position for hydrothermal venting.
The team gathered and discussed the merits of one particular 'hot-spot' of interest; result! As a target location for the first analysis was decided. We then established the best course for our survey: to perform Tow-Yo CTD casts over the area. CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature and Depth, these are just some of the parameters measured by this hardware. It is to be deployed over the side of the ship and moved through a section of water close to the sea floor (~3000m) by towing it in a yo-yo style we can assess the chemical signatures of the water column at varying heights. This we hoped would indicate the source where the 'buoyant plume' or 'smoke' of minerals ejected from the hydrothermal vent is located.
With the weather improving and a plan of action formed we are confidently steaming toward the target location. By first light we could be on location commencing survey.

Screen grab showing data (e.g. magnetic, sidescan and bathymetry) used to target ROV dives at the Mid-Atlantic ridge using the Holland 1 ROV.

For more on the VENTuRE cruise, please check out the Science blog spot: http://scientistsatsea.blogspot.com
And UCC's student website: http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/bees

The R.V Keary @ Waterford Tallships Festival 2011

The RV Keary, a 15m aluminium catamaran is a state-run marine research survey vessel built for and operated by the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI). Its primary function is to provide an inshore survey capability for the national INFOMAR programme (INtegrated Mapping FOr the Sustainable Development of Ireland’s MArine Resource).

The RV Keary’s first INFOMAR survey leg of 2011 took place in Waterford Harbour, starting in mid-April and finishing in mid-June.

Click here for more information.

The campaign focused on mapping the navigational channel in advance of the Tall Ships Festival which took place at the end of June, with mapping of the shallower areas along the river banks and shore being carried out by the GSI's 7.5m RIB, RV Geo. This was the first time that both vessels have worked in tandem.

Having successfully mapped the estuary the RV Keary was invited to participate in the Tall Ships Festival. The RV Keary was positioned in Waterford Marina beside The Revenue Commissioners customs cutter, the RCC Faire. The Keary was open to the public from Thursday afternoon June 29th until Saturday evening on July 2nd.


Seabed mapping of the estuary took place in an area west of the city's Rice Bridge to the open sea at the mouth of Waterford Harbour.
Visitors to the Tall Ships event were invited onboard in groups of approximately 15, and those waiting for the tour were informed of the INFOMAR programme through the display of posters outlining the history of the RV Keary and the INFOMAR programme attached to the vessel’s hull.

The tour commenced on the back deck where a brief introduction to the RV Keary, the 'Real Map of Ireland', the GSI, Marine Institute (MI), INFOMAR project and the survey acquisition systems and instrumentation was provided. Visitors were also shown the mapping tools used onboard such as the side scan sonar, the magnetometer and the grab sample equipment on the back deck and invited to ask questions on any aspect of the INFOMAR programme.

Following this, the groups were presented with an overview of the data acquired during the Waterford Harbour survey on the data processing pc. Features of interest in the data were highlighted, in particular a 60m shipwreck discovered opposite the marina in Waterford city. This vessel is believed to be the cargo ship the S.S. Harvard, dating from 1870, now embedded in a scour feature in the river bank just a kilometre from where the R.V. Keary was berthed. Also of great interest was the detailed imagery of whirlpool scours (dark blue - purple), created where the river flow meets the tide.



Next the group was invited to view the 'pod' which is located in the middle of the vessel between the two hulls. The pod is designed to accommodate the geophysical equipment onboard such as the single beam head, multibeam heads, chirp, USBL transceiver and SV sensor in one housing. The pod is mounted on a hydraulic ram that can raise and lower the instrumentation into and out of the water. Once the pod has been lowered into the survey position, lateral rams lock the pod in place to ensure that the system is stable and the instrumentation is in the same position each time the pod is moved.

Finally, a tour of the bridge and its instrumentation was provided. The Navigation and Communication Equipment was explained including the POS MV (GPS technology) which logs all motion information in space and time, allowing the removal of the vessels motion from the sonar and shallow seismic datasets. Also, the forward looking sonar which provides information about the nature and depth of the seabed ahead of the Keary and the auto pilot steering of survey lines. A 3D fly-through of Waterford Harbour on display generated huge interest with visitors receiving a 3D visual of the seabed of Waterford harbour.

To the delight of the visitors onboard, RV Keary and Real Map of Ireland postcards were distributed along with copies of Inshore Ireland ( with Keary articles), and information on the copper coast geopark project and Marine Institute, not forgetting our younger visitors, the kiddies who received lollipops! The visitors were then free to explore the front deck of the vessel and take photographs.

Over 1,000 people came onboard to visit the RV Keary on guided tours over the three days and the positive feedback and interest in the INFOMAR programme and the data being acquired was exceptional.

On the final day of a highly successful Tall Ships event, the RV Keary participated in the 'Parade of Sails' on Sunday 3rd July. The parade was led by the naval vessel the L.E. Aoife, followed by the RCC Faire with the RV Keary in third position ahead of the biggest tallship the Russian owned 'Mir' and the remainder of the Tall Ships fleet.

Visit our Flickr site for more photos.

KRY11_01 Waterford Harbour

The RV Keary’s first INFOMAR survey leg of 2011 took place in Waterford Harbour, starting in mid-April and finishing in mid-June. INFOMAR is a joint research program between the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and the Marine Institute (MI). The campaign focused on mapping the navigational channel in advance of the Tall Ships Festival at the end of June, with mapping of the shallower areas along the river banks and shore being carried out by the GSI's 7.5m RIB, RV Geo. This was the first time that both vessels have worked in tandem, and this proved to be a very effective approach to mapping an area of seabed from deeper waters right up to the shoreline.

The survey area itself contained an existing dataset that was mapped by the RV Celtic Voyager in 2007, which provided coverage of the harbour approaches from the 10m contour to greater depths offshore (first image below). Both the RV Keary and Geo overlapped their coverage with this previous dataset, producing a comprehensive and seamless seabed map of the area (second image).

Waterford Harbour proved to be both an interesting and challenging environment to survey given the complex currents and steep waves which resulted in challenging sea states in even the calmest of weather. Complicated current patterns and hidden shoals required great skill on the part of the skippers to safely navigate the estuary from Rice Bridge to the harbour mouth, at times needing to manoeuvre the vessels through swirling whirlpools and shifting eddies. Some of the survey lines were run with the vessels “crabbing” sideways against the powerful river and tidal currents that attempted to push them off course. In addition constant changes in salinity and temperature brought about by the interaction of fresh and salt water required that regular sound velocity profiles (SVPs) were carried out. The SVPs were necessary because the sonar systems used to map the seabed measure the travel time of sound waves through the water. As water temperature and salinity differ from within and between survey areas, so too does the speed of sound. Therefore these effects must be corrected for in order to accurately map the seabed. The SVP data were acquired by lowering a probe into the water column, measuring the temperature and salinity of the water and therefore providing the survey team with a record of the sound velocity profile in a given location at a given time (the water column structure can also change over time). By conducting regular sound velocity casts in Waterford Harbour, the team ensured that the final dataset would require minimal processing to correct for errors created by the complicated water structure. The advantage of acquiring this data is that the information gathered during the survey constitute a unique dataset which can have additional use in the study of the local oceanography of the area.

The seabed area surveyed yielded a host of interesting patterns and features, all of which were captured in detailed 3D imagery by the Keary and Geo’s state of the art mapping instrumentation - not the least of these was a 60m shipwreck discovered opposite the marina in Waterford city. This vessel is believed to be the cargo ship the S.S. Harvard, dating from 1870, and now embedded in a scour feature in the river bank. In the top-left corner of the image below, what may be a spar is visible jutting out from the bow, which could show that this was a sailing vessel. She ran aground on Cromwell’s rock while attempting to anchor. At the time she was transporting a cargo of copper ore and oranges from Huelva, Spain to Liverpool, United Kingdom. The second image shows a 3D view of the Harvard wreck, with the river bank rising on the right of the image.

Below is an image of a possible pipeline running across the main channel in the harbour mouth. The purple boundary on the chart background is a “no-anchorage” zone that has been marked out to enclose the pipeline’s possible location. Following the Keary’s survey, a feature that may be the pipe is visible in the imagery below (marked with a red arrow).

Other interesting seabed features include possible sand waves generated by the currents, scours that may have been carved out by circulating eddies and prominent outcrops of bedrock. These rock outcrops are interesting as they may be sheets of igneous rock that were intruded into the surrounding sedimentary rock many millions of years ago – otherwise known as igneous “dykes". They have been found elsewhere in this region by geologists mapping onshore.

Along with being interesting from a geological perspective, these rocks could also pose a serious hazard to navigation if a vessel were to venture away from the main shipping channel. Below is a series of images of the features mentioned above.

"Maulus Rock", a possible igneous dyke. The top half of the image shows the rock enclosed in a red rectangle, while the bottom half shows it in profile, 3D view.

Scours on the river bed

Possible wave structures on the river bed.


Shoals and deeps where the river Barrow (top-right) meets the river Suir.

Below is a series of images of the two vessels at work in Waterford Harbour. The first image shows the RV Keary and RV Geo arriving at Dunmore East.

An aft view of the RV Keary, showing the A-frame which is used to deploy sound velocity probes to measure ocean temperature and salinity.

The first of the tall ships arrives in advance of the Tall Ships 2011 festival.

Porcupine Bank Groundtruthing CE11_017

The Marine Institute Research Vessel the R.V. Celtic Explorer completed mobilisation for the INFOMAR ground-truthing survey, CE11017, on the10th May 2011. INFOMAR is a joint research program between GSI and MI. Associated research partners for this cruise are the following Irish universities; DCU, NUIG, NUIM and UCD.

On the 11h of May the vessel departed from Cork at midday heading to the Atlantic Ocean. The first stop was Dunmanus Bay in the SW of Ireland where we arrived at 5 a.m. the following day. Several shallow cores were taken targeting a small cluster of pockmarks in shallow gas sediments in about 40m water depth. After completion, the survey work continued in fairly good weather conditions running a long shallow seismic line towards the outer bay to get a better understanding of the shallow stratigraphy.


After completion of the seismic line, the vessel transited to the second research location on the Porcupine Seabight to study the Nephrops habitat. Shortly after arrival, two underwater video transects were run using the MI video sled. This was followed by sediment sampling in the vicinity of these transects using a grab sampler (Day Grab). It was decided, based on the weather forecast for the upcoming 24 hours, to begin transiting to the M6 weather buoy position to deploy the buoy. Halfway to the buoy position, vibrocores at two stations were taken and short cores were retrieved in a complex gravelly seabed terrain with low ridges. The M6 buoy was deployed on the morning of the 14th of May and the one in the water was brought on-board successfully.




The survey resumed towards the Porcupine Bank, our next research area, which up to now was a relatively unknown seabed. Several vibrocores, grab samples and three rock dredge transects were taken during the rest of the 15th May. Two video lines were run in that area displaying a variety of seabed types from boulder fields to fine sand with macro benthic fauna present. On the 16th May, the survey continued entirely on the top of the Porcupine Bank using grab samples and finally rock dredge transects to obtain sediments and rock samples form the hardest areas. Several video lines run overnight, were used to correlate some of the rock dredge transects. On the 17h May, after a few grabs on gravelly ground, the weather improved and it was decided to spend most of the day vibrocoring. 7 stations were occupied in a transect around the Porcupine “Saddle” in water depths from 220m to 330m targeting a variety of ridges. Most of the targets were successfully cored and they provided a mixture of gravels and clay.



On the 18th May the weather worsened and it was decided to spend the morning taking water samples in deep waters (2200 m) using the rosette. After completion, an attempt to recover the cetacean hydrophones was carried out but it was not possible to recover them due to the high swells. Swell of up to 7m and gales, forced the expedition to leave the area and head back towards the SW coast of Ireland again.

On the 19th May, on reaching the SW, the weather was significantly better and allowed for coring. Several vibrocores in relatively deep waters (c. 400 m) were obtained in an area shaped with low mounds. A transect of grab samples from the 500m contour to the 100m contour followed with finality to observe changes in the benthic fauna and living foraminifera. Finally, five more vibrocore stations were taken in the inner shelf in an area of possible glacial ridges.

On the 20th May we spent most of the time in Dunmanus Bay running video lines and taking several vibrocres, 6 in total, for additional shallow stratigraphy research. Later in the evening the final transit to Cork commenced which would finish the survey.

The vessel proceeded for demobilisation in Cork and the ship docked around midnight on the 20th May completing a successful expedition despite the adverse weather conditions.