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Ships in Icelandic waters
This month both RRS Discovery and RRS James Cook are working in the high latitudes of the North Atlantic. Discovery is looking at ocean biology and Cook is surveying the geology of the ocean floor.
RRS Discovery has been travelling east to west across the Iceland and Irminger Basins measuring the impact of volcanic ash on ocean biology. This follows up on an earlier expedition in May during the first eruptions of the Icelandic volcano. The ash contains iron, which acts a fertiliser on marine plants resulting in phytoplankton blooms. The scientists will be comparing the results from the two expeditions.
Led by Prof Eric Achterberg, of the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science (which is based at the National Oceanography Centre) the scientists are contributing to an expedition blog Beyond the Ash Cloud on classroom@sea website: http://www.classroomatsea.net/D354/
There is an interview with Eric on the BBC News website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10690062
In contrast, the RRS James Cook is working from west to east across the Irminger and Iceland Basins. Led by Dr Nicholas White of the University of Cambridge, the scientists will be surveying the ocean floor of the area for a future international drilling operation undertaken by IODP – the Integrated Ocean Drilling Project.
In the North Atlantic Ocean, there are V-shaped ridges, which lie on either side of the mid-oceanic ridge south of Iceland. These ridges have an impact on the circulation of ocean currents. By investigating how and when they were formed scientists can build a picture of how circulation systems have operated in the distant past.
