Hello readers! Welcome aboard the 2014 UK
DIMES ocean research voyage.
Follow our progress over the next few weeks
as we sail from the Antarctic Peninsula, across the remote and reputedly
choppy Southern Ocean, to South
America. Travelling onboard the RRS
James Clark Ross, our team of scientists, technicians and crew will be
collecting a plethora of oceanographic measurements which will help to unpick the forces which drive the global ocean circulation.
This trip is the last in a series of research cruises which together form the DIMES project (see http://dimes.ucsd.edu/). The principal component of DIMES is tracking a blob of chemical dye, or tracer, which was released into the South Pacific Ocean one mile below the sea surface in 2009. Since then we have carefully monitored how the tracer has been spread, mixed and transported by the strong currents which circulate Antarctica. These measurements have provided uniques insights into Southern Ocean physics which will help scientists to decipher how quickly the ocean is able to absorb heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, where it can be locked up for thousands of years - it is a crucial step in understanding what regulates our Earth’s climate.
Over the next few weeks we will be making the
final measurements of the DIMES tracer, as well as sampling
the temperature, salinity, current strength and turbulence of the water we sail
through.
Keep posted for the latest news and photographs from the icy landscapes and high seas, and to hear more about the science, wildlife and life on board.
Katy and Siobhan
Trip Bloggers
Got a question? Want to know more about life at sea? Confused about the science? Email us throughout the cruise on s.moran@exeter.ac.uk or k.sheen@soton.ac.uk
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| Siobhan tests the water in South Georgia during a stop off on last years DIMES research cruise |
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| Katy on board the RRS James Cook in the Straight of Magellan, southern Chile - on the home run after seven weeks at sea! |
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