February 29th we left Punta Arenas, Chile, where the winds are so strong that all along the main street the trees are bent in one direction.
The town, populated by about 120,000 habitants, is located in the Strait of Magellan, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They say it's the most austral city in the world, but this is not exactly true since Ushuaia, Argentina is even more southern.
After five days in port loading everything needed for our research cruise plus one day of delay, we departed Punta Arenas at 1900 on Friday, February 29. We're currently on our way to our study site, located around 50S and 40W, near South Georgia Island. (
Click here to follow our track).
The first day at sea was a bit bumpy, but after it's been sunny and calm. All the scientists seem to have their sea legs, but I wouldn't be surprised if all of that changed once we get farther out into the windy seas.
So why go to the Southern Ocean? Well, the cruise experiment is called GasEx, which stands for Gas Exchange. While on the ship, we'll sample gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3) and Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS).
We know that the ocean acts like a big CO2 sink, but just how much and how fast it absorbs CO2 is the essential question. And, understanding precisely how a greenhouse gas like CO2 moves through the environment is essential to understanding and predicting global warming.
My research team, in collaboration with other teams from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Hawaii, are going to measure momentum, sensible heat, latent (moist) heat, ozone, DMS, and CO2 fluxes between the atmosphere and ocean. With these measurements, we can provide all field researchers, modelers, and remote-sensing specialists with the best possible meteorological reference data for improving carbon cycle science.