From pole to pole : 33 years of physical oceanography onboard R/V Polarstern

Measuring temperature and salinity profiles in the world's oceans is crucial to understanding ocean dynamics and its influence on the heat budget, the water cycle, the marine environment and on our climate. Since 1983 the German research vessel and icebreaker Polarstern has been the platform of numerous CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth instrument) deployments in the Arctic and the Antarctic. We report on a unique data collection spanning 33 years of polar CTD data. In total 131 data sets (1 data set per cruise leg) containing data from 10 063 CTD casts are now freely available at doi: 10.1594/PANGAEA.860066. During this long period five CTD types with different characteristics and accuracies have been used. Therefore the instruments and processing procedures (sensor calibration, data validation, etc.) are described in detail. This compilation is special not only with regard to the quantity but also the quality of the data -the latter indicated for each data set using defined quality codes. The complete data collection includes a number of repeated sections for which the quality code can be used to investigate and evaluate long-term changes. Beginning with 2010, the salinity measurements presented here are of the highest quality possible in this field owing to the introduction of the OPTIMARE Precision Salinometer.Peer reviewe

1993 ネン カキ グリーンランド カイ ノ スイオン ブンプ -LANCE ジョウセン ソクホウ-

1993年8月16日から30日までの間, グリーンランド海における国際共同観測を行った。ノルウェーの観測船R/V LANCEに同国のほか, ドイツ, 日本から計3カ国15名の研究者が乗船し, 係留系の設置・回収, 採水, CTD観測, XBT観測, 海氷地上検証, 動物計数を実施した。共同観測の概要を報告し, CTD/XBT観測で得られた水温分布の一例を速報する。Oceanographic observations in the Greenland Sea were conducted in summer 1993 as an international cooperative programs. Fifteen scientists, from three countries (Norway, Germany and Japan) participated in the R/V LANCE cruise from August 16 to 30,1993. Mooring work, CTD measurements, XBT measurements, water sampling, sea ice ground truth and animal observations were carried out en route, both in the pack-ice and open sea regions. Temperaure profiles were obtained by XBT at 84 stations, of which those recorded along 79°N are presented

High-latitude oceanography using the Autosub autonomous underwater vehicle

A combination of measurements from Autosub, an autonomous underwater vehicle, and ship-based instruments are used to describe the oceanographic conditions beneath Fimbul Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The data show an intricate oceanographic regime that is suggestive of variability at seasonal or longer time scales. Results from a numerical model of the flow beneath the ice shelf lend support to a strong seasonal variability, and data from instruments moored beneath the ice shelf show substantial temporal variations. The Autosub data indicate temperatures within the cavity somewhat lower than our model results would suggest; thus, our modeled melt rates (average of 0.85 m yr21) might be overestimates, although they are substantially lower than from previously published model studies (4.9 and 1.9 m yr21). The contribution of ice shelf melt in the freshwater balance of the waters upstream of the climatically important Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf needs to be reassessed