Periodic Activity Report/3rd Period - Ifremer

ESONET Contract no.036851/Periodic Activity Report/3 rd Period
The MODOO DM mainly addressed outlying and building hardware, in particular the Data
Collection and Dissemination (DCD) node to be connected to the MODOO lander and
mooring. This is in view of the deployment and the recovery cruise in the Porcupine Abyssal
Plain off southwest Ireland scheduled for May/June 2010.
The MOMAR-D is proceeding with the final definition of the observatory and the start the
technological work: designing and building the sensors/nodes, adapting sensor software to
SEAMON technology. The objective is to start trials in Brest by Spring 2010. The cruise to
implement the observatory infrastructure on Lucky Strike (Azores), is now scheduled for
September 2010 (R/V Pourquoi pas? and ROV Victor 6000).
The AOEM (ESONET Arctic site), for which the Grant Agreement and Implementation Plan
had to be amended, commenced in July 2009 with the preparation of the geophysical
experiments for assessing the variability of the acoustic signature of the bubble plumes in the
water column, monitoring the thermal signal of fluids expelled from the sediment and
determining the micro-seismological expression of hydrate dissociation and fluid escape. The
technical work that has started includes the identification of available technical solutions for
data transfer from Fram Strait moorings to land and of feasible ocean water column
deliverables that can be collected from the cabled network and meet the requirements of user
community.
2.4.3 Deviations from the project work programme, and corrective actions taken
3. Delay in the signature of the AOEM DM Grant Agreement (2 nd Call). The delay was
due to the planned participation of an institution which is not an ESONET consortium
Partner. This Sub-contracting was not provided for ESONET, so the ESONET
Coordinator prepared a request of contract amendment including modifications of
financial information. This amendment request took a longer time than expected. .
4. The delivery of Marmara-DM semester report was delayed for about 3 months. This
was in part due to the overlap of the report deadline with the preparation and
subsequent development of sea operations in the Sea of Marmara, which involved all
the Partners of the DM. This kind of delay may be recurrent at this stage (at-sea
operations) and are difficult to overcome given the large number of partners involved
in DM reporting. Repeated solicitations and reminders with warnings of cutting off
DM funds to Partners may be necessary to achieve punctual reporting.
Note from the coordinator: the deliverable D45b is not delivered yet due to the delay of the
deliverable D45a.
Del.
no.
D45a
2.4.4 Deliverables list
Deliverable
name
Second
periodical report
WP
no.
Date
due
Actual/Forecasted
delivery date
Estimated
indicative
personmonths
(*)
Used
indicative
personmonths
(*)
Lead
contractor
WP4 28 31 278.5 INGV
April 2010 40