Labrador Sea in the Northwest Atlantic

Vertical velocity of the water column (currents); Optical backscatter; Salinity of the water column; Temperature of the water column; Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies; Dissolved oxygen parameters in the water column; Horizontal velocity of the water column (currents); Precipitation and evaporation

Current profilers; optical backscatter sensors; cameras; CTD; discrete water samplers; snow and ice samplers; sediment traps

This project was undertaken by Filipa Carvalho of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), and Dr JA Brearley of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The work was funded under the NERC Standard Grants programme, starting 1st August 2023 and ending on 31st July 2027. This project aims to use autonomous technology to measure the biological carbon pump over the course of an entire year, and quantify carbon transport and carbon storage through the different biological and physical processes. To do so, measurements will be taken of the distribution of organic matter particles throughout the water column to determine whether they are sinking or being transported by ocean mixing. The results will be extended to the entire Northwest Atlantic using proxies that can be determined on larger scales (for example from satellites). Finally, modelling work will attempt to include these important processes in future climate models. The project will collect physical, biological and chemical properties from Argo floats, gliders, CTD tracks and fixed moorings. Models will be generated of POC fluxes and apparent oxygen utilization, entrainment, detrainment, and detrainment timescales via mixed-layer dynamics. 1D physical mixing models will be evaluated in predicting observed mixed layer dynamics and associated fluxes.

British Oceanographic Data Centre
Joseph Proudman Building 6 Brownlow Street
Liverpool
Merseyside
L3 5DA
United Kingdom