* Scientific NEWS *
02 July - 02 August 2010, METEOR in its research cruise M82-1
click on the track to read the WEEKLY BRIEFING (in German only)
THOR in press (German) | WELT online 2010-07-05
Im Nordatlantik wird auch die Zukunft der hiesigen Bauern erforscht
Wissenschaftler auf dem gerade gestarteten Hamburger Forschungsschiff "Meteor" untersuchen den Austausch von Wassermassen und dessen Klimaeinflüsse (von Gisela Schütte) (mehr...)
- 17 Jun 2010
- 17 Jun 2010
- 18 Jun 2010
- 18 Jun 2010
- 18 Jun 2010
Fotos © Andreas Dibiasi
- 18-19 June 2010, Open-Ship in Hamburg
- Fig. 1
METEOR M82
METEOR cruise M82 consists of two legs to be carried out in the subpolar North Atlantic dealing with the circulation and transport variations of deep water, as well as one leg focusing on the hydrothermal system at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near the Azores. (fig. 1) Processes to be investigated are related to different disciplines of marine sciences such as physical and chemical oceanography, biogeochemistry, hydrothermal processes, petrology, chemistry of fluids and microbial ecology.
Fig. 1: Planned cruise tracks and working areas of METEOR M 82
Leg M 82/1 | 02.07 - 02.08.2010
The overflow water flowing across the Greenland-Scotland Ridge sinks south of the sill down to depths of approximately 3000 m. Thereby, less dense ambient water is mixed into the sinking overflow plume, by small scale processes and vortex formation, approximately doubling its volume transport. During the first part of this cruise leg the long term observations of the overflow volume transport with moorings will be extended; in the Denmark Strait itself and also 500 km further south off Angmassalik. Other programme points are small scale mixing studies and the exchange of moorings in the southern Irminger Sea, which are used to estimate the water mass formation and transformation there.
About one third of the North Atlantic Deep water is formed in the Labrador Sea. The variability of the production rate and of the export are linked to the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) and short time scale variabilities are not de-coupled by topographically barriers. In order to determine the fluctuations of this contribution to the thermohaline circulation it is important to continuously measure the formation and export rates of the Labrador Sea Water (LSW). Core activities during the second part of this leg are therefore detailed CTDO2 station work accompanied by current observations on station (lowered ADCP) and underway (shipboard ADCP) as well as the exchange of moorings in the boundary current at the Labrador shelf break and in the convection area in the central Labrador Sea. This is a continuous activity (since 1996) providing long time series of water mass transformation and export.
Fig. 2: Bold lines indicate CTDO2-lADCP sections. Points show the positions of moorings to be serviced
Download the Cruise Brochure
THOR Cruise planned at MRI Island in the second half of August 2010
More coming soon.
Contact person: Hedinn Valdimarsson at hv(at)hafro.is
RV Pelagia (Sept. 22 - Oct. 15, 2009)
The research cruise 64PE312 of RV Pelagia was carreid out by THOR partner NIOZ (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) surveying the AR7E section from Greenland to Ireland, including servicing a mooring in the central Irminger Sea. The Cruise Report is now available to download
FRV Scotia (October 1st - 20th, 2009)
The FRV Scotia is a research vessel of Marine Scotland, formerly the Scottish Fisheries Research Services. Some of the work to be undertaken during the trip feeds into THOR WP 3 "Observation of the North Atlantic THC" and will be jointly carried out by THOR's subcontractor Marine Scotland, partners SAMS UK and KNMI Netherlands.
Click here to view the trip blog ...
Cruise Report on RV MARIA S. MERIAN
2009-07-13
In the present state of our climate the northern North Atlantic is one of the major sources for the deep waters of the World Oceans and thus influences or even determines the global deep ocean circulation. Dense water from the Nordic Seas and the Labrador Sea move southward at depth and is replenished near the surface by a northward flow of
warm water. During RV MARIA S MERIAN cruise MSM12-1 we studied the three major sources of North Atlantic Deep Water: the overflow through Denmark Strait, the
entrainment of ambient waters into the overflow plume and the production and export of deep water from the Labrador Sea... read more
Posters on research results can be viewed here
THOR on Tour
MARIA S. MERIAN | 2009.05.13 - 2009.06.15 
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Leg MSM12/1 | During the cruise (Ponta Delgada-Reykjavik) the research team led by Professor Detleft Quadfasel from the Institute of Oceanography of University of Hamburg plans to study three major sources of North Atlantic Deep Water: the production and export of deep water from the Labrador Sea, the Overflow through Denmark Strait and the environment of ambient waters into the overflow plume. The work focuses on the recovery and redeployment of long-term current meter moornings, but synoptic hydrographic work is done as well. The major part of this research tour is funded by the North Atlantic project of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Germany and the EU project THOR.
The weekly briefing (German version only) on MSM 12/1 Pt. Delgada - Reykjavik is now available to download:
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05-11 | 05-18 | 05-25 | 06-02 | 06-09 | 06-15 |
Click here to read more about Maria S. Merian Cruise. The scientific programme of Leg MSM 12 can be viewed in page 13-16.
"THOR" oder das Überleben des Golfstroms 
Hamburg/Programm zur Europawahl 05.2009
Herausgeber: Europa-Union Hamburg Landesverband Hamburg e.v.