Cruises LEFE CYBER

SURATLANT contributes to monitoring the upper North Atlantic subpolar gyre, collecting data from merchant vessels between Iceland and Newfoundland (AX2) since 1993 and between Denmark and Greenland (AX1) since 1997.

Surface thermosalinograph data (T and S) are collected with support of the SO SSS in France and of NOAA/AOML in the USA, and are part of GOSUD. Validated TSG data can be accessed at SSS SO website.

Upper ocean temperature profiles were collected from XBTs launched on AX1 since 1993 by dedicated ship riders and at time by the crew, following earlier monitoring under BIO responsibility since 1985. XBTs have been launched on AX2 since late 2000. Most of the XBTs have been provided by NOAA, with additional support from Coriolis (France), and from French and Norwegian national research funding.

Surface samples have been collected by observers (mostly on AX2) to measure salinity, macro-nutrients (nitrate, phosphate and silicic acid), Dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity (DIC/TA), water isotopologs (d¹⁸O and d D) and d¹³C of DIC. Salinity and macro-nutrient samples have been analyzed initially at LDEO (T. Takahashi), and then at the Marine Institute in Reykjavik (Iceland, S. Olafsdottir). DIC samples in 1993-1996 were analyzed at LDEO (T. Takahashi). d¹⁸O samples in 1994-1995 were analyzed at LDEO (R. Fairbanks and and S. Khatiwala), d¹³C of DIC in 2005-2006 were analyzed at Univ. of Washington (P. Quay). The other samples were analyzed since 2000 at LODYC (then LOCEAN) (UPMC, Paris, France).

The summary we provide does not include data occasionally collected for phytoplankton or zooplankton studies, nor the plankton recorder data that have been collected from the same vessels (AX2). Also, both on Nuka Arctica (AX1) (University Bergen) and on the vessels of AX2 (NOAA/AOML), at times water pCO2 is continuously recorded, as well as other chemical measurements. These data are transmitted in delayed mode to the SOCAT data base (be aware that T and S provided in these records have not been validated/corrected).