Strength of the Subpolar Gyre and the Formation of Deep Water - Cruise No. MSM12/3 - July 14 - August 22, 2009 - Reykjavik (Iceland) - Bremerhaven (Germany) (English)

The objectives of the cruise are (i) to estimate the deepwater formation rate in the Labrador Sea from inventories of the anthropogenic trace gases chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and sulphurhexafluoride (SF6), (ii) to infer the transport variability of the subpolar gyre through combined data from moored Inverted Echo Sounders (PIES), moored instruments, shipboard measurements, float profiles from the ARGO programme, and satellite altimetry, (iii) to study the transports and water mass characteristics in the Flemish Pass, and in the deep western boundary current off Newfoundland using shipboard measurements and time series from moored sensors (velocity, temperature and salinity), and (iv) to study the changes in water mass characteristic in the eastern Atlantic along the former WOCE section A2. The cruise is part of the German joint research project 'Nordatlantik' and is supported by the German Ministry of education and research, BMBF.