Abstract:
The DRIVE (Diurnal and Regional Variability of Halogen Emissions) campaign to the eastern
tropical North Atlantic Ocean and the upwelling off Mauritania (NW Africa) was funded by the
BMBF as part of the German SOLAS project SOPRAN II (Surface Ocean Processes in the
Anthropocene; www.sopran.pangaea.de): The second leg of the 399th cruise of R/V
Poseidon (P399/2) took place from 31 May to 17 June 2010 (Las Palmas-Mindelo (Cape
Verde Islands) – Mauritanian upwelling – Las Palmas). It was followed by the transit leg 3
(P399/3) which took place from 18 June to 24 June 2010 (Las Palmas – Vigo (Spain)) with
only one stop at ESTOC. Ten scientists from IFM-GEOMAR (Kiel), IfAM (U Kiel), IfBM (U
Hamburg) and IUP (U Heidelberg) representing various SOPRAN II subprojects took part in
the cruise which was the sixth of a series of German SOLAS cruises to the tropical North
Atlantic Ocean. The major objective of P399/2 was to investigate the regional and diurnal
atmospheric and oceanic variations of halogenated compounds in the eastern tropical North
Atlantic Ocean with a special focus on the Mauritanian upwelling. The main working
packages of P399/2 and P399/3 included measurements of
- Atmospheric BrO and IO
- Atmospheric halocarbons
- Other atmospheric trace gases such as ozone, methane etc.
- Aerosol composition
- Vertical structure of the atmosphere
- Dissolved halocarbons, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide
- CTD, dissolved nutrients, O2, and chlorophyll
- Microstructure of the upper water column
Besides an extensive underway measurement program of dissolved (halocarbons, N2O, CO2)
and atmospheric (BrO, halocarbons, other trace gases, aerosol) compounds, six 24h stations
were performed and 23 regular CTD stations with depth profiles covering the entire water
column were occupied
