Mid-Atlantic Expedition 2003-2004, Cruise No. 60, Leg 1 - 5, November 11., 2003 - April 15., 2004
Kiel (Germany) - Funchal - Fort-de-France - Lisbon (Portugal) (English)

The Meteor 60 expedition started in Kiel on 11 November 2003 and ended in Lisbon on 15 April 2004. The expedition comprised 5 separate legs and covered a large region of the sub-tropical North Atlantic from the Azores and Madeira to the tropical western Atlantic. Leg 1 focussed on the ecology and biogeochemistry of seamounts in the eastern Atlantic in the context of the EU program OASIS (OceAnic Seamounts: an Integrated Study). Leg 2 comprised a detailed seismic and geophysical investigation of a propagating ridge segment at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in cooperation with French scientists. Leg 3 was a multidisciplinary (geological, biological and chemical) investigation of the effects of hydrothermal circulation at the Mid-Atlantic ridge in support of the DFG SPP 1144 "From Mantle to Ocean: Energy, Material and Life Cycles at Spreading Axes". Leg 4 was a physical oceanographic study of long-term variation of the thermohaline circulation in the western basin of the Atlantic in the context of the BMBF-CLIVAR program MOVE (Meridional Overturning Variability Experiment). Together with US investigators, calibration work was also conducted for GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment); and Leg 5 was a multidisciplinary (chemical/biological) investigation of CO2 uptake and the biological pump in the water column of the North Atlantic sub-tropical gyre (DFG Collaborative Research Project SFB 460 "Dynamik Thermohaliner Zirkulationsschwankungen").