Plattform Platform	Reise-Nr. Cruise-No.	Zeitraum Period	Projekt Project	Arbeitsgebiet Working area
Maria S. Merian	MSM34-1	09.12.2013 - 27.12.2013	SUGAR	Black Sea

Fahrtleiter Chief Scientist	Institut Institute	Auslaufhafen Port of departure	Einlaufhafen Port of return	Stationskarte Station map	Schiffsroute Trackchart
Klaucke Ingo	Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR)	Varna	Varna

Ziel der Reise / Objectives of Cruise:

Objectives Several countries including Japan, Korea and India have launched vast research programs dedicated to the exploration for gas hydrate resourcesand ultimately the exploitation of the gas hydrates for methane. The German SUGAR project financed by BmBF and BmWi aims at developing technology to exploit gas hydrateresources by injecting and storing CO2 instead of methane in the hydrates. This approach includes techniques to locate and quantify hydrate reservoirs, drill into the reservoir, extract methane from the hydrates by replacing it with CO2, and monitor the thus formed CO2-hydrate reservoir. Numerical modeling has shown that any exploitation of the gas hydrates can only be successful, if sufficient hydrate resources are present within permeable reservoirs such as sandy or gravelly deposits. The ultimate goal of the SUGAR project being a field test of the technology developed within the project, knowledge of a suitable test site becomes crucial. Within European waters only the Norwegian margin and the Danube deep-sea fan show clear geophysical evidence for large gas hydrate accumulations, but only the Danube deep-sea fan most likely contains gas hydrates within sandy deposits. The main objective of cruise MSM34, therefore, is locating and characterizing suitable gas hydrate deposits on the Danube deep-sea fan. Narrative Cruise MSM34/1 had a bumpy start due to delays in shipping equipment and difficulties for parts of the scientific party to join the ship on time. The outlook for the cruise was also tarnished by the presence of the CGG Symphony (an industry 3D seismic acquisition vessel) in the working area. However, by the late afternoon of December 8, 2013 16 scientists from Germany, France, Turkey and Bulgaria had boarded the ship and all equipment had been loaded. A problem with one of the pod propulsion caused further delays, but at 05:00 on December 10, 2013 we reached our first station and deployed a sound velocity. The next day average winds of force 7-8 with gusts of force 9 did not allow collecting useful data and all operations were stopped for 24 hours. On December 11, 2013 the first piezometer of the cruise was deployed and RV MARIA S. MERIAN headed towards the starting point of our first seismic profile. At 22:00 the 1050-m long streamer of our Turkish colleagues was deployed and at 01:00 on December 12 we started recording our first seismic profile. Seismic recording continued smoothly with some short interruptions until December 20 when the seismic gear was recovered at 12:45. We then deployed the second piezometer that was installed in a location where gas hydrates are expected to be close the seafloor. Following the pizometer station we started a short bathymetry survey to allow the CGG Symphony to move away from our survey area. At 12:30 on December 21 we redeployed the seismic equipment under perfect weather conditions. By December 24, 12:00 we had completed our preliminary lines and could add several additional lines that appeared to be necessary after initial inspection of the seismic data. With seismic data acquisition still going on, we all celebrated Christmas. Seismic acquisition was finished on December 26 at 08:00 after 2200 line kilometers of high-resolution and high-quality seismic profiling. By 9:30 the seismic gear was back on deck and we finished our scientific program with a couple of bathymetry and Parasound profiles dedicated at filling some remaining gaps in the bathymetry grid. By 09:00 on December 29 RVMARIA S. MERIAN had berthed at the pier and by 12:00 the equipment had been loaded onto two trucks waiting at the pier. That was the end of the first leg of cruise MSM34, which was extremely successful, as all goals have been fully achieved.

Messungen / Measurements

Verankerungen / Moorings