Cruise Report for AE2504 on R/V Atlantic Explorer

This is the cruise report for C-CoMP cruise AE2504 on the RV Atlantic Explorer that took place in March 2025. The goal of the AE2504 was to compare the microbial dynamics and processes in an oligotrophic region with a more productive region. This cruise is one of two planned with the same purpose, but to compare the same regions under bloom conditions (spring) with more stratified and nutrient poor conditions (late summer). We chose two stations: the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study site (BATS) near Bermuda and the southernmost station of the New England Shelf Long-Term Ecological Research (NES-LTER station L11) site west of Connecticut. At each station, we conducted diel sampling near the surface (15m) and placed these samples into context with hydrographic profiles, underway samples, targeted incubations, and large-volume samples from CLIO. We sampled each region within an Lagrangian context, enabled by an SVP drifter deployed in each location.

This version (v2) of the cruise report contains one additional figure (Figure 19) of plankton images collected by the Planktoscope along the cruise track of AE2504. The other figure numbers have been updated to accomodate the inclusion of the new figure.