AMOC Observations at the exit of the Labrador Sea and deep convection in the Labrador and Irminger Sea - Cruise No. MSM 21/1a - May 13 - June 06, 2012 - St. John's (Canada) - Reykjavik (Iceland) (English)

The MARIA S. MERIAN expedition MSM21/1a was carried out jointly by the Institut für Meereskunde at the KlimaCampus of the University of Hamburg and the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, GEOMAR. The cruise main objectives were related to investigations on water mass transformation processes and transports in the northern North Atlantic and included: - Recovery of a pilot-mooring array (FP1, FP2) to study the export of deep waters from the Labrador Sea through Flemish Pass - Redeployment of five moorings (K8, K9, K10, DSOW1, DSOW2) at the southern exist of the Labrador Sea (53°N array) and enhancement of the array by one mooring (K7) - Deployment of six bottom pressure sensors (P1 to P6) at two areas in the Labrador Sea shelf edge at three different depth (500, 100, 1500m) - Redeployment of a mooring in the Central Irminger Sea (CIS) - Recovery of four (G1, F2, UK1, UK2) and redeployment of two (UK1, UK2) moorings in the Denmark Strait overflow off Angmagssalik. - Acquisition of synoptic hydrography/currents/oxygen data at key sections in the sub polar North Atlantic. The scientific aspects of this work were supported through the BMBF project North Atlantic and the EU FP7 project THOR. In addition to staff members from the above mentioned institutions, one technician from the U.K. Lowestoft Laboratory of CEFAS, U.K., four master students from the Universities of Kiel and Hamburg, and a bird observer from Environment Canada participated in the cruise and supported the field work.