RRS James Cook JC134
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RRS James Cook (740H) |
| Cruise identifier | JC134 |
| Cruise period | 2016-03-19 — 2016-04-16 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda |
| Port of return | Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | DUSTTRAFFIC is a project in which we monitor and sample Saharan dust that is being blown from NW African sources across the Atlantic Ocean. In particular, we want to study the marine environmental effect of deposition of mineral dust on the ocean surface.
To this end, a Transatlantic array of moorings (N=5) was deployed along the 12th parallel between 23°W (just South of the Cape Verde Islands) and 57°W (just East of Barbados) for the first time in 2012. These stations were visited during consecutive cruises in 2013 and 2015. Each of the moorings comprises two sediment traps at 1200 and 3500m water depth. These sediment traps sample settling particles (both dust and marine biological remains) that are sinking towards the sea floor. In addition, two moored surface buoys were added in 2014 at the stations at 38°W and 49°W. With these buoys, Saharan dust is sampled from the atmosphere. During the present cruise, DUSTTRAFFIC IV, five sediment-trap moorings and two dust-collecting buoys will be recovered and two moorings and two buoys will be redeployed at two positions along the 12th parallel, this time between 23°W and 38°W (East of the Mid Atlantic Ridge). In addition, a third dust-collecting buoy, which is located at 21°N/21°W (off Cape Blanc, Mauritania) will be recovered, serviced, and re-deployed. |
| Chief scientist | Jan-Berend W Stuut (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research) |
| Cruise report |  (10.74 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Atlantic Ocean |
| Specific | Equatorial North Atlantic |
| Track charts | (1.04 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 24 Description: Water sampling with CTD-rosette for micropaleontology and microbiology. 30 casts at 14 stations en route between Antigua and Tenerife. Four deep casts to 4000m at stations M5 (S1), M4 (S4), M3 (S7) and M1 (S13). 26 shallow casts to 300m at all stations (N=14), replicates at 12 stations. |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Zooplankton | Quantity: number of hauls = 28 Description: At each station, two dips with a plankton net (>150 micrometres) to 200m |
| Other biological/fisheries measurement | Quantity: number of hauls = 7 Description: Plastics net at the ocean's surface, deployed at S1-S4, S7, S13, S14 (N=7) |
| Meteorology | |
| Other meteorological measurements | Quantity: number of samples = 26 Description: Air sampling during 24hrs using HiVol samplers |
| Moorings, landers, buoys | |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 38° 0' 0" W — 16M3 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, re-deployed |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 38° 0' 0" W — 15M3 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, recovered |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 49° 0' 0" W — 15M4 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, recovered |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 56° 0' 0" W — 15M5 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, recovered |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 23° 0' 0" W — 16M1 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, re-deployed |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 23° 0' 0" W — 15M1 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, recovered |
| Sediment traps | 12° 0' 0" N 23° 0' 0" W — 14M1 Sediment trap sampling, long time series, recovered |
| Meteorology | |
| Other meteorological measurements | 21° 0' 0" N 21° 0' 0" W — 16Carmen air sampling with buoy, long time series, re-deployed |
| Other meteorological measurements | 21° 0' 0" N 21° 0' 0" W — 15Carmen air sampling with buoy, long time series, recovered |
| Other meteorological measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 23° 0' 0" W — 16Laura air sampling with buoy, long time series, deployed |
| Other meteorological measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 38° 0' 0" W — 15Michelle air sampling with buoy, long time series, recovered |
| Other meteorological measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 49° 0' 0" W — 15Laura air sampling with buoy, long time series, recovered |
| Other meteorological measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 38° 0' 0" W — 16Michelle air sampling with buoy, long time series, re-deployed |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Other geological/geophysical measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 49° 0' 0" W — M4 drifting sediment traps 24hrs at 100m, 200m, 400m |
| Other geological/geophysical measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 23° 0' 0" W — M1 drifting sediment traps 24hrs at 100m, 200m, 400m |
| Other geological/geophysical measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 56° 0' 0" W — M5 drifting sediment traps 24hrs at 100m, 200m, 400m |
| Other geological/geophysical measurements | 21° 0' 0" N 21° 0' 0" W — CB drifting sediment traps 24hrs at 100m, 200m, 400m |
| Other geological/geophysical measurements | 12° 0' 0" N 38° 0' 0" W — M3 drifting sediment traps 24hrs at 45m, 75m, 175m |
