Back from the Baltic Sea
The Hansel Lab made a second trip out to the Baltic Sea this past spring, this time on the R/V Meteor! Due to the considerably greater ship size Colleen was joined by a much larger science crew from our lab this time, including newly minted Professor Ryberg, Don, Lina, Kate, Jenn, and Katelyn. Joining us on the cruise were teams from University of Aarhus, MPI in Bremen, the IOW, and Michigan State University, and other scientists from WHOI.
In line with the MnION theme of the cruise, the science objectives were manifold with different teams investigating Manganese, Iodine, Oxygen, and Nitrogen cycling. A main focus of our labs work was to investigate the speciation and cycling of manganese along sharp oxygen gradients that characterize the water column. This work was pioneered by Colleen, Eric, and Jenn.
Filters collected for manganese oxide analyses at different depths in the water column.
As with all cruises, changing environmental conditions required us to remain nimble with our sampling plans. Kate Lane comments, “it was so exciting to be at sea during a major inflow event, because the environment was so dynamic”. Indeed, the occurrence of a Major Baltic Inflow event, (which describes a period of time in which new saline water enters the Baltic Sea) just before our cruise began, created a unique opportunity to sample along different gradients as the inflow intruded and mixed the water column.
Keep your eye out for work emerging from this cruise in the near future!