Geotraces IC1

Departed: Norfolk, VA USA

Date: 8 June 2008

Arrived: Norfolk, VA USA

Date: 12 July 2008

GEOTRACES completed the first Intercalibration cruise from June 8 to July 12, 2008, collecting water and particle samples for analysis and intercalibration. This intercalibration exercise aimed to provide reference materials that could be distributed to the international community and reference profiles of Trace Elements and their Isotopes to ensure compatibility and consistency of GEOTRACES data.

The exercise involved a two leg cruise with the first (KN193-5) focusing on the collection of seawater reference material and the second (KN193-6) on particles. The R/V Knorr departed Norfolk, Virginia USA and transected to the BATS station southeast of Bermuda where the bulk of sampling took place. Scientific crew change for the second leg of the cruise was in Bermuda on June 27 and particle sampling began at BATS with underway sampling during the return leg to Norfolk, arriving on July 12.

The research performed on this cruise was designed to support the three primary objectives of the U.S. GEOTRACES Intercalibration effort: (1) Develop and test the US GEOTRACES sampling systems and procedures for dissolved and particulate TEIs. Results will comprise a community resource for use in all future US GEOTRACES’ cruises; (2) Using these systems, conduct a thorough intercalibration for all the key GEOTRACES TEIs, and as many others as possible, in the dissolved and particulate phases through the participation of the worldwide TEI community; (3) Establish a GEOTRACES Baseline Station in the western North Atlantic, specifically at the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series Station, as part of the Intercalibration Cruise. This research is a collaborative effort among 3 Principal Investigators (Cutter, Old Dominion U.; Bruland, U. of California, Santa Cruz; R. Sherrell, Rutgers U.), but participation in the intercalibration component of GEOTRACES is international and  involved at least 80 other laboratories