Scaling down the ocean: People

Christina De La Rocha
Herwig Stibor
Richard Lampitt I am an observational biogeochemist with a main focus on the factors that control the downward flux of material from the top of the ocean into the interior and from there to the seabed. Amongst other approaches this involves long term deployments of sediment traps deep in the water column (eg 3000m). A crucial factor is the export flux of material from the upper mixed layer and we have developed a drifting sediment trap which makes direct measurements of this flux, a rate which is notorously difficult to measure. In order the understand the factors that determine the quantity and quality of material mediating this flux, continuous observations are required on a wide range of properties and processes occuring in the upper part of the water column.
Julia Boutorh
Nathalie Coffineau
Rudolph Corvaisier
Antti-Jussi Evertsen
Morgane Gallinari
Sari Giering
Morten Iversen
Juliane Jacob
Marja Koski
Manon Le Goff
Brivaëla Moriceau
Thomas Müller
Maria Stockenreiter

About the Expedition

There is something about going to sea: It is exciting, adventurous, and when you try to map the ocean’s biological, chemical and physical properties, you get a feeling of the vastness of the oceans. The oceans cover more than 70 % of our planet’s surface and have an average depth of almost 4 km. While this enormous scale is one of the most fascinating aspects of ocean science, it is a big challenge for us scientists: The ocean currents and constant overturning of water masses make it nearly impossible to study just ‘one’ spot.

As a consequence, we often collect a few litres of sea water and manipulate them in the lab. ‘Lab experiments’ are informative and give you an idea about individual model organisms or single aspects of the ocean biogeochemical cycles. But these micro-scale experiments have one big problem. They are like watching a monkey in a zoo: It gives you an idea about e single monkey, but it will never quite tell you what a jungle is all about.

What is needed is something of intermediate scale: a ‘mesocosm’ (from Greek mesos: 'middle' + kosmos: ‘world').

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