RRS Discovery leaves Southampton

Last weekend the RRS Discovery left Southampton for her 6-week expedition to service the RAPID array of moorings across the Atlantic at 26°N.   

The Royal Research Ship Discovery before leaving for the RAPID expedition

The RAPID array monitors the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) -  a system of surface and deep currents which together act like a conveyor belt transporting salt,  fresh-water, carbon and much else around the ocean.  Measurements of the AMOC are important for better long-term weather predictions, and for understanding the role of the global ocean in Earth’s climate system.

In addition to collecting data from existing sensors on the RAPID moorings, and redeploying these, the expedition will be adding biogeochemical sensors to some of the moorings as part of the ABC Fluxes project.  This aims to calculate time series of inorganic carbon and nutrient fluxes in the Atlantic at 26°N.

The team onboard will also be deploying a recently developed telemetry system for transmitting data to shore at regular intervals throughout the 18-month deployment period. 

Updates from the expedition will be posted on this blog, and the team will be tweeting using #rapidAMOC.