The Poseidon P332 cruise in the Cape Verde Island region was undertaken as part of the UK-SOLAS project
(Surface-Ocean / Lower-Atmosphere Study, websites: www.solas-int.org and
www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/thematics/solas/) to improve understanding of the atmospheric transport, cycling and
deposition of dust and nutrients into the North Atlantic. The cruise was funded by NERC. The objectives of the
cruise were:
1) Obtain an improved temporal and spatial estimate of atmospheric dust input to the Tropical N Atlantic.
2) Obtain an improved estimate of the seawater dissolution of N, P and Fe species from aerosol dust.
3) Determine the influence dust exerts on phytoplankton carbon fixation, species diversity and nutrient cycling in
surface waters.
4) Determine the impact of atmospheric dust derived micronutrients on microbial community production and species
diversity in the surface microlayer and underlying waters.
In particular this cruise aimed to combine in-situ aircraft measurements of the atmosphere (DODO, University of
Reading, www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~aer/dodo/dodo.html) with in situ sampling of the lower atmosphere and the water
column (University of East Anglia, University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre Southampton and
University of Birmingham) around the Cape Verde islands. However, the Poseidon did not meet up with the aircraft
due to a lack of dust in the atmosphere.
The main sampling and data-gathering activities comprised 21 stations for CTD and GoFlo profiles, 175
underway samples from the towed Fish and 6 samples of the surface microlayer. Stand Alone Pumps (SAPS) were
deployed 4 times but without success.
One dust event was encountered at 4-8 Feb. The transect sailed at 3-4 Feb. during the dust event was again
sampled a week later to investigate changes in nutrients, trace-metals and the microbial community. The Cape
Verde Time Series Station was sampled at 9 Feb