Inorganic Carbon Measurements on the 2010/2011 North Atlantic GEOTRACES Cruise

Bermuda Institute Of Ocean Sciences (Bios), Inc., St. George'S

Investigators

Abstract

This Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) is being made to a research team at the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS) in response to an urgent need for seawater inorganic carbon measurements for the US GEOTRACES Zonal North Atlantic Survey Section. An initial cruise was aborted in late 2010 because of serious mechanical failure in the research vessel; the remainder of the North Atlantic study has been rescheduled for completion with a resumption of the cruise in October 2011. In collaboration with other GEOTRACES colleagues at the University of Miami, the effort of the BIOS team will be focused on collecting samples for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity (TA), laboratory analyses of these samples, and subsequent entrainment/merging of these datasets into the U.S. GEOTRACES Zonal North Atlantic Survey Section core hydrography/bottle dataset for distribution to the project investigators and the broader scientific community. In total, 600 samples will be collected for this cruise with 300 samples being analyzed at BIOS and 300 samples analyzed at RSMAS. Approximately 200 samples were collected on the aborted 2010 cruise, and once returned to respective labs will be analyzed for DIC and TA. Additional samples will be collected on the resumed 2011 GEOTRACES cruises with samples analyzed in respective labs, and the entire dataset undergoing standard QC/QA protocols. Broader Impacts. It is widely agreed that the ocean biogeochemical research community needs a global view of the key and ancillary GEOTRACES properties. The major impact of this project will be its contribution to the U.S. GEOTRACES Zonal North Atlantic Survey Section through measurements of inorganic carbon. This contributes broadly to improved understanding of the inorganic carbon cycle in the North Atlantic Ocean. Although no graduate student is supported, this award will support improved skills of two research technicians, and data will be incorporated into a teaching module about the ocean carbon cycle for the Nippon Foundation-POGO centre of excellence at BIOS.