Geotraces GP 17

Departed: Papeete, French Polynesia

Date: 1 December 2022

Arrived: Port Arena, Chile

Date: 2 February 2023

The GP-17 OCE research expedition to the South Pacific Ocean is planned for two months in late 2022 into early 2023. It comprises two transects: a southward transect along approximately 150ºW between French Polynesia and the Southern Ocean which will sample large biological and geochemical gradients from the low-dust, low-biomass oligotrophic sub-tropical gyre, though more productive regions of complex regions of watermass formation and frontal mixing, and into the Southern Ocean. An eastward transect along 67ºS and into Chile will sample the high-opal and Antarctic-influenced Southern Ocean, deep-water hydrothermal influences, and across the South American continental margin. The investigators will use large-volume in-situ pumps to collect size-fractionated particles from the water column which will be distributed to multiple collaborators; and they will operate and maintain particle-sensitive optical equipment to be deployed on the expedition. The research aims to address three main hypotheses: 1) that the large biological gradients from pico-plankton dominated gyre through frontal regions into opal- and Phaeocystis-dominated polar waters will present large gradients in particle export, particle composition, scavenging of trace elements and isotopes (TEIs), and remineralization length-scales of both carbon and TEIs; 2) that particulate iron is dominated by lithogenic (crustally-derived) phases throughout most of the water column, with the exception of regions of strong hydrothermal influence, and that lithogenic particle origins will reflect inputs of external aerosol dust, sediments, hydrothermal sources, and continental inputs as evident via TEI ratios determined after total digestion; 3) that the optical ratio of turbidity to beam attenuation coefficient is sensitive to iron-oxyhydroxide abundances thus acting as a high-resolution indicator of iron-rich authigenic and lithogenic particle inputs.