From Mississippi to Australia: New cruises depart

Scientists maneuver a conductivity, temperature, and depth sensor off the side of a ship. Credit: NOAA

Scientists at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) are gearing up for a busy season at sea with three research cruises departing in the month of February. The A13.5 Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP) cruise, the I08S GO-SHIP cruise, and the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA) Northeast Extension cruise will all depart in February to collect samples from the surface to the depths of the ocean and improve our understanding of ocean circulation, carbon uptake, biological conditions, and climate variability.

As part of an international effort, scientists at AOML are participating in two cruises under GO-SHIP aimed at answering crucial questions in marine biogeochemistry on a global scale. From assessing how the deep ocean’s global uptake of carbon fluctuates to measuring the difference in key oceanic parameters over thousands of meters, these cruises play an essential role in understanding how the global ocean will be impacted by climate change and rising carbon emissions. Every decade, these cruises are completed along a set of designated transect lines collectively covering every ocean, and this week, two are set to begin: A13.5 and I08S.