The Porcupine Abyssal Plain Observatory (PAP-SO) located in the Northeast Atlantic, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The observatory has been a part of ICOS network of Ocean stations since the beginning of ICOS.
Started in 1985, at 4,850 m depth, the PAP site offers the world’s longest running time series of life on an abyssal plain – areas of flat seabed at 4,000-6,000 m deep – and one of the world’s longest deep-ocean observatories of critical ocean data, from seabed to the surface.
The PAP site has one of the longest biogeochemical time series records in Europe. Year-round surface CO2 measurements were started in 2002 to observe changes in greenhouse gases and ocean acidification. The site is a key component of the ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System) station network.
The host institution National Oceanography Centre (NOC) visits the sit every year to carry out field sampling and observation, to recover instruments and data from the moorings, and to service the moorings for redeployment. This year’s expedition on the research vessel RSS James Cook, which set sail on 30th May, will include testing new, cutting-edge autonomous technologies alongside well established observational methods. This will include new autonomous sensor and sampler technologies developed in the ICOS-coordinated GEORGE project.
These will add to the crucial long-term multidisciplinary observations at the site, which provide a unique and important window into long-term changes in the health of the deep ocean, from the impacts of climate change to its role as a carbon sink.
Advancing our knowledge of the remote deep ocean
“Science undertaken at PAP-SO has significantly advanced knowledge of the remote deep-ocean realm and beyond,” says Dr Andrew Gates, the principal scientist at NOC who is leading the expedition. “Early insights at PAP revealed that the deep-sea floor, thought to be a very stable, constant environment, is in fact subject to seasonal change.
New advanced autonomous technologies being tested on this 41st ship-based expedition include the deployment of new sensors and sampling technologies for autonomous observation.
These were developed as part a major Horizon Europe-funded project to advance technology for high quality ocean observations, called GEORGE (Next Generation Multiplatform Ocean Observing Technologies for Research Infrastructures). GEORGE is coordinated by ICOS and includes partners from 28 European institutes.
Testing grounds for surface ocean observations
GEORGE is developing innovative autonomous measurement technologies for the entire water column, including surface ocean measurements, which are the focus of ICOS.
One such innovation is the CaPASOS system, a sensor that can measure surface ocean CO₂ concentrations from an autonomous vehicle. CaPASOS will make it possible to gather data from remote areas of the ocean that aren’t otherwise easily accessible.
The CaPASOS sensor will be integrated on the Sailbuoy, an autonomous surface ocean measurement platform, which will travel a 1,000-kilometre journey from the Irish coast to the PAP site and back. Powered by the wind and navigated from shore, it will measure surface water CO₂ concentrations along the way.
Read more
- Explore data from the UK-FOS-PAP site.
- Read the article on BBC: Deep-sea science expedition embarks on 40th voyage. (30 May 2025)
- Read more about the GEORGE project technologies deployed at PAP.
- Read the news on the National Oceanography Centre’s site.
Photograph of the research vessel courtesy of National Oceanography Centre.