MARIA S. MERIAN MSM142

The MSM142 expedition is investigating the spring phytoplankton bloom in the Labrador Sea and its link to oceanic current processes. Under the leadership of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, an international research team is investigating how currents, eddies, and fronts move heat, freshwater and nutrients in the subpolar North Atlantic. The expedition combines research on the spring bloom in the Labrador Sea with long-term observations of large current systems. Researchers from GEOMAR are participating with measurement programs in physical oceanography and biogeochemistry.

Another part of the expedition leads to one of the most important long-term climate time-series: the 53°N Observatory at the exit of the Labrador Sea. For almost three decades, researchers have been observing the so-called Deep Western Boundary Current here. This current transport cold deep water southward and forms an important part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

At the same time, the team is working on the K1 mooring in the central Labrador Sea. Similary, this mooring and its instruments need to be recovered, serviced and redeployed. Researchers are studying processes of deep convection there – that is, when surface water cools significantly in winter and sinks to great depths.