The U.S. cruise along the GEOTRACES GP15 section in the Pacific Ocean will depart soon

News

10 September 2018

The U.S. GEOTRACES GP15 cruise will be conducted in the Pacific Ocean along 152° W between Alaska and Tahiti (see map below) from 18 September to 24 November 2018. It aims at examining the influence of strong margin fluxes, atmospheric dust deposition, and the distal ends of hydrothermal plumes from the Juan de Fuca Ridge and East Pacific Rise as well as oxygen minimum zones, equatorial upwelling, and some of the lowest-nutrient waters in the world’s oceans in the South Pacific gyre at 20°S. The cruise will be the first meridional section of the U.S. GEOTRACES programme, and indeed, this transect would allow to explore virtually all of the processes and fluxes known to introduce trace elements to the ocean.

GP15 cruise trackThis project would also provide baseline measurements of trace elements in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone (~7.5°N-17°N, ~155°W-115°W) where large-scale deep sea mining is planned. Environmental impact assessments are underway in partnership with the mining industry, but the effect of mining activities on trace elements in the water column is one that could be uniquely assessed by the GEOTRACES community.

This cruise will support a large variety of individual science projects to study the chemical and biological interactions of trace elements, with some research being conducted on board the ship, and additional research at participating academic laboratories (please see the GP15 collaborators web page). In total, 45 researchers will participate in this cruise.

Want to learn more about this cruise?

 

Rechercher