First leg of the Dutch GEOTRACES cruise (GA04-N) in the Mediterranean and Black Sea completed

We are now at our last station in the Sea of Marmara ready to sail to Istanbul where we will disembark RV Pelagia after a successful MedBlack GEOTRACES leg 1 (64PE370). Everyone worked very hard in an around the clock program resulting in the completion of 37 stations starting in the Atlantic Ocean, via the Strait of Gibraltar, through the Western and Eastern Mediterranean followed by the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara. In addition, we completed the sampling of the Atlantic, part of an isotope intercomparison exercise where different labs will analyse the samples we took to compare their methodology for the isotopes of a range of (trace) elements. We will be back in Istanbul on 13 July to board RV Pelagia again and start leg 2 in the Black Sea. Leg 3 will start 25 July in Istanbul and will bring us via the northern part of the Mediterranean Sea back to Lisbon where the MedBlack GEOTRACES cruises started. We would like to acknowledge the Master Pieter Kuijt and his crew of RV Pelagia for their help and support during our cruise.

Our cruises can be followed via the NIOZ website: www.nioz.nl where you can also read the diaries of the participants.

Distributed on behalf of: Micha Rijkenberg (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)