3. Results
A total number of 470 samples were collected during preliminary
sample collection on seven different research cruises. Total survey
effort sampled 940,000 l of surface seawater, and covered a
track length of 12,700 km of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean including
the shelf margins of the Atlantic continental shelf, Rockall
Trough, Porcupine Bank, Celtic shelf, Celtic Sea and the Hebridean
shelf and slope.