Collaborative Research: GEOTRACES Atlantic Section, shipboard shore-based determination of key trace elements

University Of Miami, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

The U.S. GEOTRACES North Atlantic zonal section cruise was scheduled for 15 October through 5 December 2010. Because of a major irresolvable mechanical failure of the ship's propulsion system, the expedition had to be terminated in the Cape Verde Islands on 4 November after completing about one third of the planned track. This required on-the-spot changes in return travel for all sea-going investigators as well as in shipping arrangements for all their samples and equipment. The funds requested in this proposal address the PI's need to cover salary costs to prepare for the cruise and shipping costs to get his supplies to the ship and back to his home institution after the cruise. The dissolved and colloidal trace elements determined as part of this study (Cd, Fe, Mn, and Zn) would improve coupled ocean/atmosphere carbon and nutrient cycling models and yield new insights on the role of the atmosphere in depositing metals to surface waters and their transfer to the interior ocean.