The PELRAD cruise (July 2017, 4th - 6th then 17th - 19th), onboard the RV “Sépia II” (CNRS/INSU), focused on phytoplankton distribution along the eastern English Channel in summer, to be compared spring features. This cruise is the second of a series of three cruises of the implementation of innovative semi-automated techniques for defining an automated observatory of phytoplankton and HABs, Joint Research Action Project #1 (JRAP#1) of the JERICO-NEXT project. Coordinates of these stations were the same as those visited during the PHYCO cruise.

The PHYCO cruise was devoted to the study of the phytoplankton spring bloom in the Eastern Channel-southern North Sea region, by combining in situ continuous recording at sub-surface waters and discrete sampling and profiling at fixed stations, collecting and analysing samples both in surface and at different depths.

The Etoile cruise was firstly designed to understand hydrological dynamics in the Bay of Biscay. Besides, a physical-biological coupling was effective (JERICO-Next JRAP#1 and JRAP#4) by including phytoplankton monitoring in surface and at some water column depths. One of the objectives of the cruise was to characterize phytoplankton distribution at meso/sub-meso-scale using automated flow cytometer and multispectral fluorometry. These measurements should be complementary to discrete sample at three depths (surface, sub-surface and chlorophyll maximum).