The first official research cruise of the NORSEAT Project started from Wednesday 30 November 2022 and ended at Friday 9 December 2022 aboard the new BELGICA II. The Shipboard scientifiv team was consisting of 12 scientists from Ghent University (RCMG, UGent), Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Geological Survey of Belgium (GSB), University of Dundee (UK), UCoimbra (Portugal) and University of Heidelberg (Germany).
Although we departed with a delay of ~36 ours from Zeebrugge and had to cancel two of the sites for data acquisition, we were able to gather high-quality data in three of the original study areas, with some added extra survey lines in both of them. The campaign was in general a success, in particular when considering the comparably friendly weather and wave conditions in December in the Shetland Islands. We wish to thank the crew and the captain Gaetan Motmans for their collaboration and assistance during the survey, as well as the accommodation onboard RV Belgica II.
