Expedition SO268 was part of the JPI Oceans project MiningImpact to assess the environmental impacts of deep sea mining of polymetallic nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ). A sediment plume monitoring operation was conducted as part of this expedition. This plume was created by a dredge on 11 April 2019 between 6:30 to 19:00 UTC. Monitoring of the baseline conditions, active plume and post-disturbance effects was achieved by a sensor array of optical and acoustical sensors on platforms spread out around the plume creation site. This dataset contains calibrated optical sensor measurements of this plume array acquired by 9 optical backscatter sensors (OBS).

Deployed during event SO268-2_ST105:JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-15) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-01 (Converted, Sensor at 2 mab)Deployed during ROV event SO268-2_ST111-ROV16:JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-07) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-02 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-08) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-03 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-10) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-05 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-13) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-06 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)Deployed during ROV event SO268-2_ST118-ROV17:JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-04) mounted on platform GMR_PFM-08 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-09) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-04 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-12) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-07 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)JFE OBS (NIOZ_ENV-14) mounted on platform NIOZ_PFM-08 (Converted, Sensor at 1 mab)