Science Highlights

Some recent GEOTRACES science findings are reported below.

Inference about rates of thorium and particle cycling in the ocean water column

Insoluble thorium (Th) isotopes are particle reactive while their radioactive parents are fairly soluble. This difference of behaviour has allowed chemical oceanographers to use Th isotopes to develop understanding about […]

30.08.2016

Hydrothermalism: a major contributor to the oceanic inventory of dissolved zinc

High-quality dataset of dissolved zinc (Zn) from the US GEOTRACES EPZT cruise (GP16 section) allows Roshan and co-workers (2016, see reference below) to revisit the oceanic budget of dissolved Zn. […]

29.08.2016

Decreasing of the industrial lead contamination in the Amundsen Sea area

Since the phasing-out of leaded automobile gasoline, the imprint of industrial lead is decreasing everywhere. 

07.07.2016

Scandium: a new oceanic tracer with surprising properties

The first modern data set of dissolved scandium (Sc) in the open ocean is presented. Thanks to three GEOTRACES cruises, its distribution is compared between the different oceanic basins. This […]

29.06.2016

Gadolimium, a Rare Earth Element becoming a human contaminant and tracer of wastewater discharge in the ocean

Gadolinium (Gd) is increasingly used in contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. It is therefore released in the wastes of hospitals and research centres. As a consequence, Hatje and collaborators […]

13.06.2016

Onboard analysis of dissolved zinc everywhere in the open ocean with a Lab on Valve (LOV) system of the size of a bottle of wine is becoming possible

Thanks to the work of Maxime Grand and collaborators (2016, see reference below), it is now possible to analyse dissolved zinc (DZn) on board, from any kind of seawater using […]

03.06.2016

Are the dissolved iron distributions well represented by the global ocean biogeochemistry models?

Alessandro Tagliabue and co-workers (2016, see reference below) have conducted the first intercomparison of 13 global ocean iron models against the latest datasets emerging from GEOTRACES. A large disparity in […]

24.05.2016

An example of a fruitful international intercomparison

The reliability of the GEOTRACES data products including the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas is strongly related to the quality of the data acquired by the different laboratories contributing to this international effort. A […]

19.05.2016

All mercury species measured along the GEOTRACES-UK section, South Atlantic Ocean

Total mercury (THg), methylated mercury (MeHg), and dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) concentrations were determined along 40°S in the Atlantic Ocean. All Hg species had higher concentrations in western than in […]

13.05.2016

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