Day 3

First up- where are we going? To Anton Dohrn seamount and Rockhall
The seamount is an undersea mountain (usually of volcanic origin), of heights above 1000 m. The islands of Hawaii, the Azores and Bermuda were all underwater seamounts at one point in the past. Studies have been done to investigate the flora and fauna surrounding these seamount as they are observed as hotspots of marine life. As they stand proud of the surrounding seabed, they tend to concentrate water currents and they can have their own localised tides and upwellings. Anton Dohrn is indeed an interesting g place to study and we want to see if the south-east area differs from the north-west area.
Rockhall is a small, uninhabited , rocky islet in the north Atlantic Ocean. The rock is the summit of an extinct volcano and is located approx 430 km, north-west of Donegal in Ireland. The surrounding elevated seabed is called the Rockhall Bank /Plateau. It is separated from the Western Isles by the Rockhall Trough and Anton Dohrn sits in the Trough about halfway between Rockhall and the outer Hebrides. The area is under great dispute regarding fishing rights and a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been implemented in the area. East Rockhall does not contain a lot of data and since there is the potential for another closed area here, good data needs to be acquired.