PML team's mission across the Atlantic
15th October 2009
PML scientists are leading a mission south to
Chile in a bid to collect data on how the oceans are changing. This
is the latest research cruise in a 14 year study, funded through
the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) Oceans 2025
Programme, investigating the biological, chemical and physical
conditions of the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission begins this week and will follow a 50 day cruise to
Chile, arriving at Punto Arenas on the very tip of South America at
the beginning of December. The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT)
is focusing on discovering more about how the oceans function, how
they are changing and what this might mean for future human
needs.
Joining the PML team on board the specially equipped research
vessel – the RRS James Cook - are colleagues from the National
Oceanography Centre in Southampton (NOCS) and other marine
institutes, including from the Phillipines and the United States.
Among the research carried out data will becollected for the UK Met
Office and the Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia,
Portugal.
This
year’s mission south will be the longest AMT voyage so far and will
cover an immense 8500 miles.
With a cruising speed averaging 10 knots, the scientists will
only have a few hours each day to take their samples and readings;
between stops it’s back to the on board laboratories to analyse the
date and prepare for the next sampling station. It’s no pleasure
cruise but hard work and long, unsociable hours, often in some of
the world’s roughest seas.
Andy Rees, PML biogeochemist and co-ordinating scientist for the
cruise, commented: “The AMT provides an exceptional opportunity for
nationally and internationally driven collaborative research and is
an excellent platform for multidisciplinary oceanographic studies.
PML has led this programme from the beginning and we are delighted
to be working with our colleagues within the UK and from further
afield.”
“During this expedition, the PML team will be
continuing their long-term collection of biological and chemical
observations of the remote Atlantic ecosystem. This research will
include examining the impact of ocean acidification on the activity
of specific marine bacteria that are an important constituent of
the global nitrogen cycle."
"They will also test new techniques in determining concentration
levels and microbial turnover of compounds that are important in
atmospheric chemistry and provide a carbon source for marine
bacteria and phytoplankton. This work will increase our
understanding of the processes that occur in this ocean and will
eventually feed into ecosystem models to help forecast global
change.”
“We’ve been planning this mission for months and the whole AMT
team are very excited about getting this cruise underway.”