AW104: SurfCO2 expedition

Department

Themes

Part of the science team as we set out from Iceland on board of research vessel Anna Weber van Bosse for the SurfCO2 expedition.

Part of the science team as we set out from Iceland (photo: NIOZ)

In the morning of 3 June we departed from Reykjavik for the third scientific expedition of RV Anna Weber-van Bosse. Over the next two weeks we will travel south down the Atlantic Ocean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and across the Mediterranean Sea to Genoa.

Written by Matthew Humphreys (NIOZ)

The main aim of this expedition, SurfCO2, is to thoroughly test and validate the underway sampling systems on board. These are a series of sensors that automatically measure near-surface seawater properties, especially related to carbon dioxide (CO2), wherever the ship travels. The data will be contributed to global compilations that are essential for tracking and understanding the changing marine carbon cycle.

Getting acquainted with the instruments in the CO2 chemistry laboratory.

Getting acquainted with the instruments in the CO2 chemistry laboratory (photo: NIOZ)

We will validate the sensors in two ways. First, we have installed a series of extra sensors alongside them to compare the results, some loaned to us by collaborators from the Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS), the National Oceanography Centre (NOC, UK) and the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ, Belgium). Second, a team will be collecting seawater samples to measure here in the laboratories on board. That will include surface samples for direct comparisons plus deep samples to compare against previous expeditions in the same area.

Installing an underway system to measure surface ocean and atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Installing an underway system to measure surface ocean and atmospheric CO2 concentrations (photo: NIOZ)

2 June we boarded the ship after breakfast and spent the whole day installing and testing our various instruments. Several of them are now already up and running and we have started collecting surface water samples at regular intervals. Tomorrow afternoon we will arrive for our first test sampling station where the ship stops to collect seawater from deeper in the ocean.

Alongside this work, another group will be collecting plankton for culturing experiments, and we also have some marine mammal observers on board, who have already been busy with minke whale, dolphin and orca sightings just in the first 6 hours! You’ll hear more from them in future editions of this blog.

Setting up the ‘plankton pump’ on the aft deck to collect surface ocean plankton.

Setting up the ‘plankton pump’ on the aft deck to collect surface ocean plankton (photo: NIOZ)