Ocean Sampling Day 2014

On June 21st 2014, VLIZ and LifeWatch participated in the Ocean Sampling Day (OSD), which was organized in the framework of the MicroB3 project. The ultimate goal of OSD is to unveil the secrets of microbial life in the ocean. On OSD, oceanographers and citizens took seawater samples on no less than 187 sites worldwide. During a LifeWatch sampling campaign with the RV Simon Stevin, DNA samples for prokaryotes were collected from 17 stations in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. An 18th station in the Westerscheldt Estuary was sampled in cooperation with Belgian partners. Never before so many people contributed to a simultaneous sampling of the ocean.