Researchers from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) recently embarked on a five-day expedition to study the Gulf Stream.
The research aims to better understand the stream’s role in the global carbon cycle.
While scientists think the Gulf Stream plays an important role in the cycle, many questions remain unanswered. The research was conducted from the vessel R/V Walton Smith. The US-UK team used underwater gliders to study the C-streams from the Florida straits offshore to Miami to better understand how Carbon Dioxide fluxes as nutrient-rich waters are transported northwards.
Three types of underwater gliders were used in the study, and they were equipped with sensors that measure the strength of turbulent mixing down to the millimeter scale. This was then used to build up a picture of the nutrient mixing vertically and horizontally.
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