AMT-11 Cruise Report

• Main Author: Woodward, E. Malcolm
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: Plymouth Marine Laboratory 2000
• Subjects: Antarctic; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Uruguay; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17031/5gqs-rp94; http://www.plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/1804/

"This report describes the scientific activities of the eleventh Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise (AMT11) on board the British Antarctic Survey research vessel the RRS James Clark Ross. The cruise sailed from Grimsby in the United Kingdom on 12th September 2000, and ended in Montevideo, Uruguay on October 11th. The long-term objectives of the AMT programme are stated as follows: • To better understand the links between biogeochemical processes, biogenic gas exchange, air-sea interactions and the effects on and the responses of oceanic ecosystems to climate change. • To investigate the functional roles of biological particles, and the processes that influence ocean colour in ecosystem dynamics. • To develop algorithms and the validation of remotely sensed observations of ocean colour. As previously the cruise was centred close to 20 degrees West for the southern transect in the northern hemisphere, the track then deviated to the east to carry out the BAS swath bathymetry research survey, which was essentially a cruise within the AMT. Following this work in the Romanche Fracture Zone, part of the Mid-Atlantic ridge system, the cruise transect headed south-westerly past Ascension Island across the south Atlantic gyre, and on to Montevideo, Uruguay. The scientific team were a truly international group who all contributed to produce an exceptional cruise from both the scientific and social aspects. This cruise is sadly the last in the time series of cruises started in 1995 and supported almost entirely through Plymouth Marine Laboratory. This is a great loss of a resource to the UK and international scientific community with these cruises offering an almost unique opportunity for regular long transect scientific research. It is hoped that the UK community will in some way in the future find funding to reinstate the research programme"