Each BATS cruise is four to five days duration and occur at biweekly to monthly intervals.The core set of measurements are collected on two hydrocasts, one measurement of integrated primary production and a sediment trap deployment of three days duration.

These cruises usually follow a regular schedule for the sequence and timing of events. Weather, equipment problems and other activities occasionally cause this schedule to be interrupted or rearranged. In the data report for each cruise, the exact schedule actually used should be reported, including the timing and nature of other activities. The schedule described below represents a summary of all the core activities on each cruise in the order that they would be performed barring any other factors.

Immediately after arrival near the station (31° 50' N, 64° 10' W), the sediment traps are deployed. This trap array has Multi-traps at 150, 200, and 300 m depths. The trap is free-floating and equipped with a strobe, radio beacon and an ARGOS satellite transmitter. The ship remains near the trap for the rest of the sampling period (see production section
below) resulting in a quasi-Lagrangian sampling plan. The locations of each cast are reported with the data reports. The decision to keep the ship near the drifting trap is done for logistical reasons only. In other studies, casts at a fixed location may be preferred.

2.0 Hydrocasts
The core measurements require 2 hydrocasts using the 24 place rosette system. The deeper of the two casts is usually done first. 24 discrete water samples are taken on each cast with the 12 l Niskin bottles. The cast order is as follows:
Cast 1: 0–4200 m. Bottle samples (24) are collected at 4200, 4000, 3800,3400, 3000 (duplicates), 2600, then at 200 m intervals until 1400 m, and at 100 m intervals from 300-1400 m.
Cast 2: 0–250 m. 2 bottles are closed at each of 12 depths of 250, 200, 160,140, 120, 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 and the surface. The extra pair ofbottles are closed at the subsurface chlorophyll a maximum as determined by the fluorescence profile on the downcast. Gases,nutrients and dissolved organic matter samples are taken from this  cast, as well as water samples for particulate organic carbon and particulate nitrogen, pigments and bacterial abundance.

3.0 Water Sampling
3.1 Sampling begins immediately after the rosette is brought on board and secured. Care should be taken to protect the rosette sampling operation from rain, wind, smoke or other variables which may effect the samples. Oxygen samples are drawn first (if freon and/or helium is sampled, they should be drawn before the oxygen samples).Two 115 ml BOD bottles are filled from each Niskin and the order of the two samples is recorded. One set of BOD bottles is for the first oxygen sample, termed O₂ -1 and a different and distinct set is for the second oxygen sample which is termed the  replicate oxygen sample or O₂ - 2 in all data records. After the oxygens, samples for total CO₂ and alkalinity (only taken on cast 2) are drawn, followed by a single salinity sample. This sampling order is common to all the bottles in the two casts. The  remainder of the sampling differs depending on the depth.

3.2 The next step in the sampling is drawing particulate organic carbon and nitrogen samples, followed by nutrient samples. Samples for bacterial enumeration are drawn at 3000 and 4000 m and most of the shallow depths. The replicate depths in cast 2 are used for chlorophyll determination, bacterial enumeration and samples for HPLC  determination of pigments.

3.3 Deckboard water-processing activities are usually divided into specific tasks. Two or three people draw the water, while one person adds reagents to the oxygen samples and keeps track of the sampling operation. Bottle numbers for each sample at each depth are determined before the cast. All of the sampling people are informed of the sampling scheme and the oversight person ensures that it is being carried out accurately.

4.0 Primary Production
The primary production cast is generally performed on the second day, depending on the weather, time of arrival at station, etc. The dawn to dusk in situ production measurement involves the pre-dawn collection of water samples at 8 depths using trace-metal clean sampling techniques. A length of Kevlar hydrowire has been mounted on one of the winches. The bottles are 12 liter Go-Flos with Viton O-rings. These Go-Flos are acid cleaned with 10% HCl between cruises. The bottles are mounted on the Kevlar line and depths are measured with a metered block, or premeasured before the cast, and marked  with tape. These samples are brought back on deck, transferred in the dark to 250 ml incubation flasks, ¹⁴ C added and the flasks attached to a length of polypropylene line at each depth of collection.This array is deployed with surface flotation which includes a radio beacon and a flasher. The ship follows this production array during the 12–15 hour period that it is deployed, occasionally shuttling back to the sediment trap location. This array is recovered at sunset and processed immediately.

5.0 Sediment Trap Deployment and Recovery
Upon arrival at the BATS station, the sediment trap array is deployed and allowed to drift free for a 72 hour period. The array’s location is monitored via the ARGOS transponder and by regular relocation by the ship. Twice daily, the trap position is radioed to the ship by BBSR personnel. The rate of drift can be considerable, as much as 100 km in three days.

6.0 Shipboard Sample Processing
Most of the actual sample analysis for the short BATS cruises is done ashore at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. Oxygen samples are analyzed at sea because of concerns regarding the storage of these samples for periods of two to three days. Oxygen samples collected on the last day are sometimes returned to shore for analysis. All of the other measurements have preservation techniques that enable the analysis to be postponed. See the individual chapters for details. For longer cruises, it is strongly recommended that analytical work be carried out at sea for best results.