Phase I 

6th - 11th July
Phase I operations are primarily to spend time in preparation for open water ops and to ensure scientific and cultural alignment with various groups working on REP

Yellow Zone

• Mine hunting & military exercises in sheltered waters on Formigas shoal between San Miguel and Santa Maria

Green Zone

• Preliminary testing with AUVs/UAVs
• Characterize bathymetry to upper water column
• Measurements/casts for model output in Faial channel
• Risk assessment of UAV ops from vessel Use of predictive model to water-column measurements with drifter-chasing.

Phase II

13th - 21st July
Open water operations, on board of NRP Almirante Gago Coutinho, from Marinha Portuguesa. During this phase the science element will likely predominate if driven by engineering needs and drivers.

Red Zone

• Characterization of wake of cetaceans with hyper-spectral and IR imagery in separate UAV flights
• Sampling of water-column with 50m yo-yos of the wake
• Sampling with ship and AUVs transect along S. Mateus and Azores banks
• Model prediction and input from AUVs and drifters.

Phase III

23rd - 28th July
Near-shore operations off Horta especially mapping/ sampling off of Ponta da Espalamaca for shallow vents to ensure wrapping up of scientific goals for REP15.

Green Zone

• Characterize shallow hydrothermal vents in Faial/Pico channel especially off of Espalamaca shallow vent zone.
• Deploy 2 AUVs, one bathymetric and the other above, on upper water-column, and 2 UAVs, with IR and hyper-spectral imagers.