deepseasgroup - AMES
Atlantic Margin Environmental Survey (AMES)
The deep waters to the north and west of Scotland were the birth place of deep-sea biology. They remain an area of considerable scientific interest, but are now also subject to commercial pressures from the fishing and oil industries.
The DEEPSEAS Group, working with our colleagues in the Geology and Geophysics Group, have carried out extensive surveys of this region - see cruise page for listing and links to cruise reports.
The first surveys were carried out on behalf of the Atlantic Frontier Environmental Network (AFEN) in 1996 and 1998. The results of that work were published as a CD-ROM. Our contributions included:
Bett, B.J. and Axelsson, M., 2000. Survey photography. Section 4.2. (download)
Bett, B.J., 2000. Benthic ecology of the Faeroe-Shetland Channel. Section 4.3.1.(download)
Bett, B.J., 2000. Comparative benthic ecology of the Rockall Trough and Faeroe-Shetland Channel. Section 4.3.2. (download)
Bett, B.J. and Masson, D.G., 2000. Main discoveries of the AFEN research project. Section 6.1. (download)
Bett, B.J. and Gage, J.D., 2000. Practical approaches to monitoring the deep-sea environment. Section 6.2. (download)
These reports can be cited in the form e.g. Bett, B.J., 2000. Benthic ecology of the Faeroe-Shetland Channel, Section 4.3.1 in Environmental Surveys of the Seafloor of the UK Atlantic Margin, Atlantic Frontier Environmental Network [CD-ROM]. Available from Geotek Limited, Daventry, Northants NN11 5EA, UK. ISBN 09538399-0-7.
A synthesis of these reports was subsequently published in Continental Shelf Research: Bett, B.J., 2001. UK Atlantic Margin Environmental Survey: introduction and overview of bathyal benthic ecology. Continental Shelf Research, 21, 917-956. (download manuscript)
Work on the AMES project continued with three surveys carried out on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI now BIS) in 1999, 2000 and 2002. This work formed part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process. Our input to the SEA process included:
Bett, B.J., 2003. An introduction to the benthic ecology of the Faroe-Shetland Channel (SEA4). Report submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry. Strategic Environmental Assessment: SEA 4. Consultation Document. (download)
Hughes, J.A., Narayanaswamy, B.E. and Bett, B.J., 2003. SEA4: An overview of the benthic ecology of the Faroe-Shetland Channel. Report submitted to the Department of Trade and Industry. Strategic Environmental Assessment: SEA 4. Consultation Document. (downoad)
More recent publications deriving in full or in part from the AFEN and DTI surveys include:
Wynn, R. B., D. G. Masson, et al. (2002). "Hydrodynamic significance of variable ripple morphology across deep-water barchan dunes in the Faroe-Shetland Channel." Marine Geology 192(1-3): 309-319.
Kiriakoulakis, K., B. J. Bett, et al. (2004). "Organic biogeochemistry of the Darwin Mounds, a deep-water coral ecosystem, of the NE Atlantic." Deep Sea Research (Part I, Oceanographic Research Papers) 51(12): 1937-1954.
van Gaever, S., A. Vanreusel, et al. (2004). "The macro- and micro-scale patchiness of meiobenthos associated with the Darwin Mounds (North-east Atlantic)." Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 84(3): 547-556.
Masson, D. G., R. B. Wynn, et al. (2004). "Sedimentary environment of the Faroe-Shetland and Faroe Bank Channels, north-east Atlantic, and the use of bedforms as indicators of bottom current velocity in the deep ocean." Sedimentology 51(6): 1207-1241.
Narayanaswamy, B. E., B. J. Bett, et al. (2005). "Ecology of bathyal polychaete fauna at an Arctic-Atlantic boundary (Faroe-Shetland Channel, North-east Atlantic)." Marine Biology Research 1(1): 20-32.
Gage, J. D. and B. J. Bett (2005). Deep-sea benthic sampling. Methods for the study of marine benthos. 3rd ed. A. Eleftheriou and A. McIntyre. Oxford, Blackwell Publishing: 273-325.
Kaariainen, J. I. and B. J. Bett (2006). "Evidence for benthic body size miniaturization in the deep sea." Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 86(6): 1339-1345.
Jones, D. O. B., B. J. Bett, et al. (2007). "Megabenthic ecology of the deep Faroe-Shetland channel: a photographic study." Deep-Sea Research I 54(7): 1111-1128.
Masson, D. G., R. M. K. Plets, et al. (2010). "Sedimentology and history of deposition of Holocene sandy contourites on the lower slope of the Faroe-Shetland Channel, NW of the UK." Marine Geology 268: 85-96.
Narayanaswamy, B. E., B. J. Bett, et al. (2010). "Deep-water macrofaunal diversity in the Faroe-Shetland region (NE Atlantic): a margin subject to an unusual thermal regime." Marine Ecology 31(1): 237-246.
Visit deepseascape to search and browse for seafloor images from the AMES project:
