AMT14
This was the third in the series of six AMT
cruises funded by a NERC Consortium Grant. The RRS James
Clark Ross sailed from Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands on
28 April and arrived in the UK on 1 June 2004. The principal
scientist was Prof. Patrick Holligan from the Southampton
Oceanograpy Centre.
Extra ship time meant that AMT14 could take a more westerly route
into towards the centre of the northern gyre than on previous AMT
cruises.
The main objective of the cruise was to determine the trophic state
of the planktonic ecosystem with respect to large scale patterns in
the the ambient concentrations and supply to the surface waters of
inorganic nutrients and of dissolved organic matter.
A NERC grant also enabled the first measurements of the standing
stock and rates of formation of biogenic minerals (diatom silica
and coccolithophore calcite) to be made on an AMT cruise.
These measurements were used to provide a better understanding of
the control of the biological pump.
Image courtesy of
NEODAAS.