R/V Skagerak reposted this
A research team from the University of Gothenburg is travelling to Svalbard in August on the R/V Skagerak to investigate deep water formation in the northernmost part of the Gulf Stream. “If you are interested in finding out whether the Gulf Stream will collapse or not, then you have to do research here,” says Anna Wåhlin, Professor of Oceanography at the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg. The Gulf Stream can be said to 'turn' at Svalbard. This happens because the warm surface water of the current cools down and the salinity rises, making the water heavier. The heavier water then sinks to the bottom of the ocean and flows back southwards, leaving room for new warm surface water. The redistribution of the different water masses is important for the global ocean circulation to work: In with warmer surface water, out with colder deep water. “In Svalbard, we want to detect what happens when the water becomes heavy enough to start sinking and forming deep water. We will study salinity, temperature, and oxygen levels and follow the deep water’s route out of the interior of Storfjorden, onto the continental shelf, and back into the North Atlantic. We want a figure on how much deep water is formed, and why so much is formed," says Anna Wåhlin, expedition leader.