RRS Charles Darwin Cruise CD95, 08 Aug-14 Sep 1995. The FLUXES I Programme (hydrothermal energy, chemical and biological fluxes at a ridge segment meso-scale)

Abstract

Cruise CD95 sailed on the RRS Charles Darwin from Barry, South Wales to Ponta Delgada, Azores, 8 August to 14 September 1995. The objectives of the expedition, FLUXES I, were to investigate the energy, chemical and biological fluxes from the Broken Spur hydrothermal vent field at 29°10'N (segment 17 o f the Mid Atlantic Ridge). The methodology of the experiment depended on using the bathymetry and bottom-water structure of segment 17 as a natural laboratory in which the fluxes are integrated over time. The water column density structure is such that the rise height of the hydrothermal plume is effectively limited to a depth greater than that of the surrounding axial valley walls. The only opening is to the south where waters external to the ridge system have access to segment 17. Philosophically, the experiment must measure the chemical, energetic and biological inventory for segment 17. Then by measuring the exchange of vent affected water from the segment with water external to the system, the integration of the components can be deconvolved and fluxes derived. This experiment, funded by the UK's BRIDGE initiative, was designed to form the basis for further data collection to measure the hydrothermal fluxes in segment 17, as endorsed by the InterRidge Meso-Scale Workshop held in Cambridge, UK, on 26 and 27 June 1995. The work was funded by NERC research grant GST/02/1125 to Drs Murton, B.J., German, C.G., Herring, P. and Dixon, D.

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