Finding Answers Blowing in the Wind

The research vessel Atlantic Explorer sailed from BIOS in June sporting a new instrument package on its mast and bow designed to measure climate-relevant, constantly shifting gases, moisture, and heat between the ocean and the atmosphere.

The instrument package, called an eddy covariance system, will be used routinely during regular cruises to the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site and other regions of the Sargasso Sea, adding to a wealth of information collected over years and decades on fundamental ocean processes and functions. Measuring gases exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere helps scientists understand Earth’s natural processes and is critical for predicting potential future climate changes, said BIOS chemical oceanographer Damian Grundle, the lead on the new project.

In January, Grundle was chosen from six applicants within BIOS to receive support from the Institute’s recently established Cawthorn Innovation Fund to develop the instrument package for use on the Atlantic Explorer.

“For a number of years now I have been interested in how atmospherically relevant gases are produced and consumed via biological processes in the ocean,” he said. While understanding the biological cycling of dissolved gases in the ocean is extremely important, it is equally necessary to understand how gases are exchanged between the atmosphere and the ocean.