Western Atlantic cruise started at Montevideo, Uruguay and ended at Bridgetown, Barbados.
Science Objectives:
1. Characterize deep ocean dissolved organic matter in water masses of western Atlantic Ocean.
2. Characterize microbial community at selected stations and at selected depths.
3. Characterize metabolic capabilities of surface, mesopelagic and bathypelagic microbial consortia vis-a-vis the degradation of organic matter from each zone.
4. Examine metabolic and phylogenetic links between microbes in different marine zones (surface, meso-pelagic and bathypelagic depths).
Science Activities:
1. Collection of discrete water samples by Niskin-bottles.
2. Collection of microbial communities from these water samples, by in-situ pumping, or by net-traps and net-tows.
3. Incubation experiments in lab and on deck.
4. Underway mass spectrometry and flow cytometry, from seawater intake.
More information is available from the WHOI Cruise Planning Synopsis.
Additional cruise information and original data are available from the NSF R2R Data Catalog.