BENGAL was the acronym of the research project ''High-resolution temporal and spatial study of the BENthic biology and Geochemistry of a north-eastern Atlantic abyssal Locality''. The project was funded through the EC MAST III program from 1996 to 1998 (EC contract MAS-3 950018). The project was a three-year multidisciplinary study of the

abyssal The abyssal zone or abyssopelagic zone is a layer of the pelagic zone of the ocean. "Abyss" derives from the Greek word , meaning bottomless. At depths of , this zone remains in perpetual darkness. It covers 83% of the total area of the ocean an ...

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

boundary layer in the northeast

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. The aim of BENGAL was to determine how the

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

community and the

geochemistry Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the ...

of the sediments change seasonally in response to a highly seasonal input of

organic matter Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...

from the overlying water column. It did this by organising an intensive sampling programme on 14 research cruises over a two-year period and using a range of observational techniques including time-series sediment traps, marine snow cameras, benthic lander systems, long-term moorings and

time-lapse photography Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thu ...

. The study area was located in the middle of the Porcupine Abyssal Plain at a water depth of about 4850 m, 270 km southwest of Ireland (central location: 48°50′N 16°30′W). The BENGAL project involved 17 partners from 9 European countries.

References

Entry of BENGAL in the EU-project database CORDIS
* Rice, A.L., Gage, J.D., Lampitt, R.S., Pfannkuche, O. & Sibuet, M. (1998) BENGAL: High resolution temporal and spatial study of the benthic biology and geochemistry of a north-eastern Atlantic abyssal locality. In: Barthel, K-G. et al. (eds) Third European marine science and technology conference, Lisbon, 23–27 May 1998, project synopses, volume I: marine systems, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, pp. 271–286. * Billett, D.S.M. & Rice, A.L. (2001) The BENGAL programme: introduction and overview, ''Progress In Oceanography'', 50 (1-4), 13-25, {{doi, 10.1016/S0079-6611(01)00046-5 (followed by 20 publications about the scientific outcome of BENGAL in the same volume).
Data compilation
in the PANGAEA data library * Results are published in various journals of the scientific literature. Oceanography