Hydrography of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean

Scientists from many institutions will embark on a journey aboard the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean. This voyage is part of the U.S. Global Ocean and Repeat Hydrography Program (U.S. GO-SHIP), which aims to re-occupy certain lines along the ocean in order to quantify changes in the distribution and physical transport of heat, carbon dioxide, and other climatologically important and oceanographically interesting properties. The A13.5 line was last traversed in 2010, so the measurements made this year will allow for scientists to understand how properties have changed in this section of the ocean in the last decade.

The A13.5 voyage will depart from Praia, Cape Verde on January 5, 2021. The voyage will take the ship along the coast of western Africa, turning south when it reaches the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude). The voyage will take the ship and its occupants across the equator, with the scientists performing full depth measurements to the ocean floor of water properties along the ship track and collecting water samples for measurement of various water properties. In the last few days of sampling, the group will reach the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the largest ocean current. The ship will end its voyage in Recife, Brazil in mid-February 2021. In addition to making regular measurements along the track, a collection of autonomous profiling floats will be deployed for the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) and the Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array (GO-BGC) programs.

Please join along on the journey by following the expedition blog!

Chief scientists: Denis Pierrot and Zachary Erickson