Process studies

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More information about each cruise is available — please click on the map labels below. Yellow lines indicate completed cruises and red lines indicate planned cruises.

GEOTRACES process study sections ©

Cruise details

Section	Country	Cruise Dates (completed cruises/ approved future cruises)	Information
GIpr01	France	08-10-2011 — 28-11-2011	KEOPS 2 (Kerguelen Ocean and Plateau compared Study) sailed in October 2011, with the aim of investigating the impact of natural Fe fertilisation on biogeochemical cycles in the Southern Ocean. Results from past studies (KEOPS1 and CROZEX) have raised new questions which have been focused on in this study. Please refer to the cruise report for further information or contact Dr Stephane Blain (Chief Scientist) or Dr Catherine Jeandel (GEOTRACES Scientist)
GIpr02	Australia	14-09-2012 — 16-11-2012	SIPEX-2: The second Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment with Chief Scientists Dr Tony Worby and Dr Klaus Meiners (AAD, Australia). The GEOTRACES Scientist was Dr Andrew Bowie. The expedition took place aboard Australia's icebreaker RV Aurora Australis in the region of East Antarctica west of 110°E (64-65°S). Sea ice is a structuring component of the Southern Ocean and plays a pivotal role in the biogeochemical cycles of Antarctic marine ecosystems. The SIPEX-2 expedition will explore the sea ice zone around Antarctica and will investigate relationships between the physical sea ice environment and the structure of Southern Ocean ecosystems. The main objectives of the project are: To identify how biological primary and secondary productivity is affected by winter sea ice extent and properties, as well as ocean circulation To obtain large-scale information on sea ice biological (sea ice algae distribution and under-ice krill distribution) and physical parameters (sea ice thickness distribution and under-ice velocity field) To obtain biogeochemical data on sea ice with a special focus on the trace metal biogeochemistry in sea ice. Details can be found in this short report.
GIpr03	India	26-04-2012 — 18-05-2012	The RV Sagar Sampada cruise, SS300, took place in the Arabian Sea from 26 April to 18 May 2012, setting sail from Cochin, India and returning to Goa, India. The Chief Scientist on board this cruise was Dr Ravi Bhushan and the GEOTRACES Scientist Dr Ramabadran Rengarajan. For more information please also contact Dr Sunil Kumar Singh.
GIpr04	India	09-11-2008 — 30-11-2008	The SS259 cruise took place from 09 November to 30 November 2008 in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal area. Dr Ravi Bhushan was the Chief Scientist and all further information can be sourced from him.
GIpr05	Australia	08-01-2016 - 25-02-2016	This cruise (HEOBI) departed on 08 January 2016 from Fremantle, Australia and returned on 25 February 2016 to Hobart, Tasmania on RV Investigator. The Chief Scientist was Dr Mike Coffin and the GEOTRACES Scientists Dr Andrew Bowie, Dr Alessandro Tagliabue, Dr Stephane Blain, Dr Zanna Chase and Professor Tom Trull. Please contact any one of these Scientists for further information, or view the GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form.
GIpr06	Australia	11-01-2016 - 20-03-2016	Cruise K-axis took place on board the RV Aurora Australis (11 January - 20 March 2016) departing from Hobart, Tasmania and returning to Fremantle, Australia. Dr Andrew Constable was the Chief Scientist and Dr Andrew Bowie the GEOTRACES Scientist. Please contact the GEOTRACES Scientist for further information regarding this cruise if required, or access the GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form / voyage plan.
GIpr07	South Africa	2017-06-29 — 2017-07-14	SAG25 (GIpr07) set sail during the austral winter, on board the RV SA Agulhas II, from Cape Town, South Africa on June 27 2018 to the Marginal Ice Zone of Antarctica, back to Cape Town on July 14 2018. Dr Vichi Marcello was the Chief Scientist on this cruise and Dr Roychoudhury Alakendra was the GEOTRACES Scientist.
GIpr08	Australia	2018-03-03 — 2018-03-21	IN2018_V02 (GIpr08) cruise took place along 140°E (the SR3 line) on board the RV Investigator, from 03 March 2018 to 21 March 2018 (starting from Hobart). Dr Andrew Trull Thomas was the Chief Scientist and Dr Boyd Philip was the GEOTRACES Scientist.
GIpr08 bis	Australia	2019-03-12 — 2018-04-05	IN2019_V02 (GIpr08 bis) will take took place along 140°E (the SR3 line) on board the RV Investigator, from 12 March 2019 to 05 April 2019 (starting from Hobart) . Dr Andrew Trull Thomas was the Chief Scientist and Dr Boyd Philip was the GEOTRACES Scientist.
GPpr01	New Zealand	14-09-2008 — 06-10-2008	FeCycle II is sponsored by NIWA New Zealand (Chief Scientist and GEOTRACES Scientist: Professor Philip Boyd) and investigated the natural cycling of micronutrient iron and other trace elements in relation to carbon and nutrient biogeochemistry. Further information is provided in the GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form.
GPpr02	Australia	22-01-2010 — 15-02-2010	PINTS – Primary Productivity induced by Nitrogen and Iron in the Tasman Sea. This research voyage studied iron bioavailability, sources, and its biogeochemical cycling in the surface waters of the Tasman Sea. Other trace metals that can act as co-limiting factors on primary productivity were also measured. Results from this voyage will thus improve our understanding on the parameters controlling primary productivity in the Tasman Sea and the biological response to relevant climate change scenarios. See voyage summary for further information or contact the Chief Scientist Dr Christel Hassler/ GEOTRACES Scientist Dr Michael Ellwood. For details on parameters to be sampled and other relevant metadata please see the GEOTRACES pre-cruise metadata form.
GPpr03	US/ Netherlands	05-01-2009 — 28-02-2009	Three international science projects were accommodated on the NB Palmer cruise 0901. The project associated with GEOTRACES is DynaLiFe-‘Shedding Dynamic Light on Iron Limitation'. The PI for the whole cruise was Professor Stan Jacobs and the GEOTRACES Scientist Professor Hein de Baar. Please see cruise report for more information.
GPpr04	German	09-09-2012 — 08-10-2012	A German cruise, SO223T, started in the North West Pacific (180^oW) and finished in the South West Pacific Ocean (140^oW). The objectives of this cruise were: The study of the distribution, sources, sinks and cycling of Nd isotopes, rare earth elements and selected non-contamination-prone trace metals in the water column as well as surface suspended particles and surface sediments of the western subtropical and tropical Pacific. Contribution of submarine volcanic CO₂ sources to the glacial-interglacial atmospheric CO₂ concentration. Diversity of the benthic nanofauna in deep-sea basins of the western North Pacific. For more information please consult the cruise report or contact Dr Mahyar Mohtadi as the Chief Scientist or Dr Katharina Pahnke as the GEOTRACES Scientist.
GPpr05	US	23-02-2011 — 25-02-2011	RV Kilo Moana cruise, KM1107, sailed February 2011 from Honolulu in the US. The Chief Scientist was Dr. Katharina Pahnke (Institute for Chemistry and Biology Of The Marine Environment). The main objective of this cruise was to study the extent of groundwater discharge from Oahu, Hawaii, and its contribution to Nd isotope and REE distributions and budgets to the offshore ocean around the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Please contact Dr Katharina Pahnke for further details.
GPpr06 GPpr06 (bis)	Taiwan	14-07-2013 — 23-07-2013 25-03-2014 — 03-04-2014	Ocean Researcher V cruise, OR5-1307-3, departed from Kaohsiung Kang, Taiwan and returned to An Ping Kang, Taiwan in July 2013. The Chief Scientist and GEOTRACES Scientist on board was Dr Tung-Yuan Ho who should be contacted for further cruise details if required. Ocean Researcher V cruise, ORV-0034 sailed on 25 March and docked on 03 April 2014. The Chief and GEOTRACES Scientist on board was Dr Ho Tung-Yuan.
GPpr07	Canada	05-02-2013 — 19-02-2013 20-08-2013 — 05-09-2013 10-02-2014 — 24-02-2014 19-08-2014 — 04-09-2014 10-02-2015 — 24-02-2015 18-08-2015 — 03-09-2015 05-06-2016 — 21-06-2016 04-06-2017 — 20-06-2017 15-08-2017 — 30-08-2017	All Line P cruises take place in the North Pacific Ocean along the same transect. The Line P cruises collect Fe samples (and potentially other trace metals) twice yearly in February and August on RV CCGS J.P Tully. The Chief Scientist on board for all Line P cruises is Dr Marie Robert from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The same port of departure and return was also used for every Line P cruise - DFO Institute of Ocean Sciences, Patricia Bay, Sidney, BC, Canada Please contact Dr Andrew Ross or Dr Marie Robert for information regarding all Line P cruises.
GPpr08	US/Netherlands	PHANTASTIC Leg 1: 03-12-2013 - 23-01-2014 PHANTASTIC Leg 2: 26-10-2014 - 26-11-2014	PHANTASTIC is made up of two cruise legs. NBP1310 02 Leg 1 on RV Nathaniel B. Palmer set sail on 03 December 2013 from Rothera, Antarctica and arrived in Hobart, Australia on 23 January 2014 with Dr Anne-Carlijn Alderkamp as Chief Scientist. Dr Loes Gerringa was the GEOTRACES Scientist on board. Please access the cruise report here. NBP1409 Leg 2 departed from and arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile also on the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer. The Chief Scientist was Dr Anne-Carlijn Alderkamp, however, a different GEOTRACES Scientist was responsible for this cruise leg - Rob Middag. The cruise report for this leg of the cruise is also available. Please contact the associated GEOTRACES Scientists for further information on these cruises.
GPpr09	Germany	17-12-2015 — 28-01-2016	SO245 (UltraPac) is currently taking place in the ultra-oliogotrophic south Pacific gyre on RV Sonne. This cruise departed from Antofagasta in Chile and will return to Wellington in New Zealand. Due to its extreme remoteness from any continents, surface waters of the South Pacific Subtropical Gyre (SPG) are the most oligotrophic in the global ocean, with the clearest waters and lowest sea surface chlorophyll a concentrations. This area is poorly studied. Recent studies indicate that microbial nutrient and carbon cycling is especially adapted for these ultraoligotrophic waters, and SPG may be a significant region of nitrogen fixation. Paradoxically, relatively large concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and dissolved organic nitrogen exist in these waters. This cruise will undertake a cross-gyre transect to determine the controls on nitrogen, phosphorus and organic carbon cycling in the surface waters, both in the dark pelagic zone and surface sediments. The role of particle & dust input and the distribution of Nd isotopes to further characterise the SPG water masses will also be investigated. Please contact Dr Timothy Ferdelman or Dr Katharina Pahnke for more details if required. The GEOTRACES pre-cruise metadata report can be access here.
GPpr10	New Zealand	15-09-2012 — 08-10-2012	TAN1212 departed on 15 September and returned on 08 October 2012, sampling in the eastern seaboard of the North Island of New Zealand. The Chief and GEOTRACES Scientist on board was Professor Philip Boyd.
GPpr11	Australia	14-03-2016 — 16-04-2016	The Eddies cruise set sail on 14 March from Hobart, Tasmania and returned on 16 April 2016, also to Hobart, Tazmania on RV Investigator. The Chief Scientist was Professor Tom Trull and the GEOTRACES Scientists Dr Michael Ellwood and Professor Philip Boyd. Please contact any one of these Scientists for further information or see the cruise summary report / voyage report/ GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form.
GPpr12	Republic of Korea	2017-12-18 — 2018-02-07	The KH15-3 set sail from Lyttelton, New Zealand, on 21 December 2017 on the IBRV Araon with Dr Sang Hoon Lee as the Chief Scientist and Dr Middag Rob as the GEOTRACES scientist. The cruise returned to Lyttelton on 12 February 2018. Please contact Dr Middag Rob for more information regarding this cruise.
GPpr13	Australia	2018-09-13 — 2018-10-08	IN2018_V04 (GIpr13) cruise, on board of the RV Investigator, aims to constrain the external iron inputs and its recycling in the southern extension of the East Australian Current. Dr Ellwood Michel is the Chief Scientist of the cruise as well as the GEOTRACES Scientist.
GPpr14	France	2019-01-05 — 2019-02-10	TONGA cruise, shallow hydroThermal sOurces of trace elemeNts: potential impacts on biological productivity and the bioloGicAl carbon pump, took place in the Western Tropical South Pacific. TONGA aimed to explore the effect of trace elements originated from hydrothermal sources in the Tonga-Kermadec Ridge on bioloigical acivity. More information can be found in the TONGA cruise dedicated website . Dr Cecile Guieu and Dr Sophie Bonnet were the chief scientists onboard.
GApr01	France	AMANDES I: 17-11-2007 — 02-12-2007 AMANDES II: 17-01-2008 — 25-01-2008 AMANDES III: 06-04-2008 — 16-04-2008 AMANDES IV: 10-07-2008 — 20-07-2008	AMANDES is made up of four separate cruises. AMANDES I on RV Antea set sail on 17 November 2007 from Cayenne and arrived back in Cayenne, French Guiana on 02 December 2007 with Dr Bruno Hamelin as Chief Scientist. Dr Catherine Jeandel was the GEOTRACES Scientist on board. AMANDES II, III and IV all also departed from Cayenne and returned to Cayenne on RV Antea with Dr Catherine Jeandel as the GEOTRACES Scientist on board. The Chief Scientist on AMANDES II was Dr Florent Lyard, AMANDES III Dr Catherine Jeandel and AMANDES IV Dr Pieter van Beek All the above Scientists are from the Laboratoire d'Etude en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (LEGOS) Please contact Dr Catherine Jeandel for further information on these cruises.
GApr02	Poland	03-11-2011 — 13-11-2011	Oceania 15/2011 was the first GEOTRACES process study in the Baltic Sea to be completed in November 2011 on the RV Oceania. The Chief Scientist on this cruise was Professor Jacek Beldowski (Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Oceanology) and the GEOTRACES Scientist Professor Michael Staubwasser. The objective of this cruise was to sample the major fresh water input sources of TEIs to the central Baltic, to obtain high resolution profiles of TEIs across the redox cline at the central Baltic anoxic deep basins, and to sample the exchange with the western Baltic through surface export and the only deep channel permitting salt water inflow. The expected outcome of this study was the identification of sinks and sources of TEIs in marginal seas, and an understanding of relevant processes governing the export and import fluxes, particularly their modification by redox cycling in the water column. Please see the voyage summary for more details.
GApr03	Netherlands	29-07-2012 — 19-08-2012	Cruise PE358 on board the RV Pelagia occupied a total of 14 stations during the lenth of the cruise (29 July - 19 August 2012). Dr Micha J A Rijkenberg was the Chief Scientist and Professor Hein de Baar the GEOTRACES Scientist. These Scientists should be contacted if further information regarding this cruise is required. The cruise report can also be consulted.
GApr04	UK	DY018 Leg1: 09-11-2014 — 02-12-2014 DY029 Leg2: 01-04-2015 — 30-04-2015 DY033 Leg 3: 11-07-2015 — 02-08-2015	These 3 cruise legs are part of the NERC Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry (SSB) programme and investigate the supply of iron from shelf sediments to the ocean. The leading Scientist on DY018 was Professor Jonathan Sharples with Professor Maeve Lohan appointed as second point of contact. This leg of the cruise departed from Falmouth, UK and returned to Southampton, UK. Please see the GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form for further information on this cruise leg. The Chief Scientist on the DY029 leg was Dr Alex Poulton. The RRS Discovery set sail and returned to Southampton, UK. A GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form is available to view for more details. The Chief Scientist on the DY033 leg was Professor Mark Moore. The RRS Discovery set sail and returned to Southampton, UK. A GEOTRACES post-cruise metadata form is available to view for more details for this leg of the cruise. Please contact Professor Maeve Lohan if you require information about any of the above cruise legs. All 3 legs of this cruise utilise trace metal clean sampling techniques with associated physical diffusion and advection measurements to determine the supply of dissolved, colloidal and particulate forms of iron from sediments and their subsequent fate in shelf sea waters and during export to the North Atlantic Ocean. Radium isotopes will also be used to determine the flux of iron from the shelf to the open ocean.
GApr05	Netherlands	64PE401 Leg1 31-08-2015 — 17-09-2015 64PE411 Leg2 27-05-2016 - 15-06-2016	The 64PE401 (Fe Vici) cruise set sail on 31 August from Istanbul in Turkey and returned to Varna, Bulgaria on 17 September 2015. The aim was to gain insight into the mechanisms and rates of iron release from sediments on the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea, and the lateral transport of iron and other trace metals over the shelf to the adjacent anoxic basin. The relationship between the release of sediment iron and changes in bottom water oxygen concentrations as well as the role of bioirrigating fauna for iron release were of specific interest. The Chief Scientist on board the RV Pelagia was Professor Caroline Slomp, of whom should be contacted if further information is needed. The GEOTRACES pre-cruise metadata form can also be viewed here. No information on this form requires updating post cruise as nothing changed whilst the cruise was taking place. The 64PE411 cruise will set sail on 27 May from Nynashamn, Sweden and anticipates to return to Texel in the Netherlands on 15 June. The aim of this cruise is to gain insight into the mechanisms and rates of iron release from sediments in the Baltic Sea, as well as the lateral transport of iron (and other trace metals) over the shelf to the adjacent anoxic basin. The scientists are specifically interested in (1) the relationship of sediment iron release with changes in bottom water oxygen concentrations; (2) the role of bioirrigating fauna for iron release; and (3) the role of Fe-CH4 interactions. The Chief Scientist on board the RV Pelagia will be Professor Caroline Slomp. For further information regarding this cruise please contact Caroline, or access the pre-cruise metadata form.
GApr06	South Africa	Leg1 22-07-2015 - 15-08-2015 Leg2 05-12-2016 - 11-02-2016	The Southern Ocean Seasonal Cycle Experiment (SOSCEx III) cruise set sail on 22 July 2015 from Cape Town, returning, also to Cape Town, South Africa on 15 August 2015. The South African National Antarctic Expedition (SANAE 55) cruise also departed from and returned to Cape Town, South Africa on 05 December 2015 and 11 February 2016 respectively. The aim of these cruises was to provide more reliable predictions of the response of the Southern Ocean carbon cycle to climate change through an improved understanding of its sensitivity to seasonal, subseasonal and mesoscale forcing scales. The Chief Scientist on board the RV SA Agulhas II for both cruises was Dr Pedro Monteiro, and the GEOTRACES Scientists Professor Alakendra Roychoudhury, and Dr Thato Mtshali who should be contacted if more information is needed. For further details regarding this cruise please contact Alakendra, or access the pre-cruise metadata form and the post-cruise metadata form.
GApr07	France	2017-03-15 — 2017-04-28	HERMINE (GApr07) set sail on board the RV Pourquoi pas?, from Mindelo, Cape Verde on March 15 2017 to Ponta Delgada, Portugal on April 28 2017. Dr. Fouquet Marie-Anne, Dr Pelleter Yvesand Cecile Cathalot were the Chief Scientists. GEOTRACES Scientists participants were Dr. Planquette Helene, Dr Sarthou Geraldine, Dr Heimburger Lars-Eric and Dr Jeandel Catherine. Please contact Dr Sarthou Geraldine for more information regarding this cruise.
GApr08	UK	2017-06-25 — 2017-08-12	The JC150 cruise (ZIPLOc) sailed aboard the RRS James Cook from Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife from June 25 of August 12 2017. The Chief Scientist was Dr Mahaffey Claire and the GEOTRACES sientists were Dr Lohan Maeve and Dr Tagliabue Alessandro.
GApr09	France	2017-05-10 — 2017-06-11	The PEACETIME cruise sailed aboard the Pourquoi pas? from La Seyne-sur-Mer, France on May 10 2017 and back to La Seyne-sur-Mer port on June 11 2017. Details on the project can be found here. The Chief Scientist was Dr Cecile Guieu, the co-Chief Scientist was Dr Karine Desboeufs and the GEOTRACES sientists were Dr Matthieu Bressac.
GApr10	Brazil	2017-11-14 — 2018-01-15	The PIRATA-BR XVII set sail on the NPqHO Vital De Oliveira from Fortaleza, Brazil, on 14 November 2017 tracing three legs: Leg 1: Fortaleza to Natal: 14 November — 06 December 2017 Leg 2: Natal- Maceio: 9 December — 23 December 2017 Leg 3: Maceio - Rio de Janeiro: 2 January—15 January 2017 Dr Nobre Paulo was the Chief Scientist and Dr Hatje Vanessa was the GEOTRACES scientist onboard the PIRATA-BR XVII cruise. Please contact Dr Hatje Vanessa for more information regarding this cruise.
GApr11	Germany	2018-04-19 — 2018-05-21	The M147 cruise set sail from Las Palmas, Gran Canary, Spain, on board the R/V Meteor, on April 19 2018 to Belém, Brazil on May 21 2018. The cruise sampling covered the Amazon estuary and the associated plume. Dr Martin Frank was both the cruise Chief Scientist the GEOTRACES scientist. Here the Post-Cruise Metadata. Please contact Dr Martin Frank for more information regarding this cruise.
GApr12	Germany	2018-12-15 — 2018-02-07	Polarstern cruise PS117 (from Cape Town to Punta Arenas) will take place in the Southern Ocean, Lazarev Sea and Weddell Sea. Dr Olaf Boebal was the Chief Scientist and Dr Rob Middag was the GEOTRACES Scientist on this cruise. The PS117 (GApr12) cruise metadata can be downloaded here.
GApr13	USA	2019-03 — 2020-03	Bermuda Atlantic Iron Time-series (BAIT). BAIT project includes sampling from 5 BATS program cruises in the period running from March 2019 to March 2020. Dr Rod Johnson is the Chief Scientist and Prof Peter Sedwick is the GEOTRACES Scientist on BAITS cruises.
GApr14	Brazil	2019-06-15 — 2019-07-01	Cruise SAMBAR_A2 (SAM-17) aims to study the interannual variability of the meridional transports across the SAMOC basin-wide array (SAMBAR). This GEOTRACES process study objectives are to understand transport, sources, sinks and cycling of REEs and Nd isotopes. Prof. Edmo Campos is the Chief Scientist and Prof Vanessa Hatje is the GEOTRACES Scientist on this cruise.
GApr15	Brazil	2020-02-02 — 2020-03-08	PROVOCCAR I aims to contribute to a better understanding of the influence of the cooler/denser waters from the Weddell Sea, the relatively warmer waters from the Bellingshausen Sea and continental glacial ice inlets on the dynamics and dominant processes in the transitional marine environments of North Antarctic Peninsula. This GEOTRACES process study objectives are to understand transport, sources, sinks and cycling of REEs and Nd isotopes. Dr. Carlos Rafael Borges Mendes is the Chief Scientist and Prof Vanessa Hatje is the GEOTRACES Scientist on this cruise.

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