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We are boldly exploring our unknown Ocean to excite interest and inform the wise stewardship of our planet.

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Seeking Salt Fingers in the Tropical Atlantic
In the northwestern equatorial Atlantic, the water column is highly stratified, with warm, salty water sitting atop cooler, fresher, nutrient-rich waters carried northward from the Antarctic by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). These conditions make the region a hotspot for salt finger mixing, a fine-scale process in which heat and salt are exchanged across density gradients, leading to waters sinking and rising in a beautiful, swirling motion. Scientists suspect that these salt fingers transport essential nutrients for plankton growth, such as nitrate, to the surface, thereby fueling ecosystem productivity and potentially influencing carbon export to deeper waters. Drs. Joseph Gradone, Corday Selden of Rutgers University, U.S., and an international team will venture to the Tropical Atlantic to collect essential data on salt fingers and their role in nutrient transport from the deep sea to surface waters. Scientific evidence suggests that salt fingers in this region are intensifying as waters warm and their salinity changes, driven by the ocean absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere. Gradone and Selden hypothesize that this trend is amplifying salt-finger mixing and potentially offsetting predicted ocean productivity loss in the region by carrying more nutrients to the surface and altering ecosystem structure. Using R/V Falkor (too)’s CTD and rosette, two coordinated gliders, and an untethered, autonomous oceanographic vehicle called the Vertical Microstructure Profiler 5500, they will improve our understanding of the physical dynamics of salt fingers and their impact on primary productivity in this region of the global Ocean.
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In the coming years, our expeditions will explore understudied regions around all seven continents in our global Ocean.

Latest Expedition

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Seeking Salt Fingers in the Tropical Atlantic
In the northwestern equatorial Atlantic, the water column is highly stratified, with warm, salty water sitting atop cooler, fresher, nutrient-rich waters carried northward from the Antarctic by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). These conditions make the region a hotspot for salt finger mixing, a fine-scale process in which heat and salt are exchanged across density gradients, leading to waters sinking and rising in a beautiful, swirling motion. Scientists suspect that these salt fingers transport essential nutrients for plankton growth, such as nitrate, to the surface, thereby fueling ecosystem productivity and potentially influencing carbon export to deeper waters. Drs. Joseph Gradone, Corday Selden of Rutgers University, U.S., and an international team will venture to the Tropical Atlantic to collect essential data on salt fingers and their role in nutrient transport from the deep sea to surface waters. Scientific evidence suggests that salt fingers in this region are intensifying as waters warm and their salinity changes, driven by the ocean absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere. Gradone and Selden hypothesize that this trend is amplifying salt-finger mixing and potentially offsetting predicted ocean productivity loss in the region by carrying more nutrients to the surface and altering ecosystem structure. Using R/V Falkor (too)’s CTD and rosette, two coordinated gliders, and an untethered, autonomous oceanographic vehicle called the Vertical Microstructure Profiler 5500, they will improve our understanding of the physical dynamics of salt fingers and their impact on primary productivity in this region of the global Ocean.
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From grants for caregivers to an artist-at-sea residency, our programs strive to deepen knowledge and inspire a connection with our planet’s life support system.

Latest Expedition

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Seeking Salt Fingers in the Tropical Atlantic
In the northwestern equatorial Atlantic, the water column is highly stratified, with warm, salty water sitting atop cooler, fresher, nutrient-rich waters carried northward from the Antarctic by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). These conditions make the region a hotspot for salt finger mixing, a fine-scale process in which heat and salt are exchanged across density gradients, leading to waters sinking and rising in a beautiful, swirling motion. Scientists suspect that these salt fingers transport essential nutrients for plankton growth, such as nitrate, to the surface, thereby fueling ecosystem productivity and potentially influencing carbon export to deeper waters. Drs. Joseph Gradone, Corday Selden of Rutgers University, U.S., and an international team will venture to the Tropical Atlantic to collect essential data on salt fingers and their role in nutrient transport from the deep sea to surface waters. Scientific evidence suggests that salt fingers in this region are intensifying as waters warm and their salinity changes, driven by the ocean absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere. Gradone and Selden hypothesize that this trend is amplifying salt-finger mixing and potentially offsetting predicted ocean productivity loss in the region by carrying more nutrients to the surface and altering ecosystem structure. Using R/V Falkor (too)’s CTD and rosette, two coordinated gliders, and an untethered, autonomous oceanographic vehicle called the Vertical Microstructure Profiler 5500, they will improve our understanding of the physical dynamics of salt fingers and their impact on primary productivity in this region of the global Ocean.
Read More

Experience the wonder of our global Ocean via immersive galleries of art, scientific discoveries, and film.

Latest Expedition

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Seeking Salt Fingers in the Tropical Atlantic
In the northwestern equatorial Atlantic, the water column is highly stratified, with warm, salty water sitting atop cooler, fresher, nutrient-rich waters carried northward from the Antarctic by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). These conditions make the region a hotspot for salt finger mixing, a fine-scale process in which heat and salt are exchanged across density gradients, leading to waters sinking and rising in a beautiful, swirling motion. Scientists suspect that these salt fingers transport essential nutrients for plankton growth, such as nitrate, to the surface, thereby fueling ecosystem productivity and potentially influencing carbon export to deeper waters. Drs. Joseph Gradone, Corday Selden of Rutgers University, U.S., and an international team will venture to the Tropical Atlantic to collect essential data on salt fingers and their role in nutrient transport from the deep sea to surface waters. Scientific evidence suggests that salt fingers in this region are intensifying as waters warm and their salinity changes, driven by the ocean absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere. Gradone and Selden hypothesize that this trend is amplifying salt-finger mixing and potentially offsetting predicted ocean productivity loss in the region by carrying more nutrients to the surface and altering ecosystem structure. Using R/V Falkor (too)’s CTD and rosette, two coordinated gliders, and an untethered, autonomous oceanographic vehicle called the Vertical Microstructure Profiler 5500, they will improve our understanding of the physical dynamics of salt fingers and their impact on primary productivity in this region of the global Ocean.
Read More

Science Team Resources

To help you plan for your expedition, this hub includes information about outreach, technical specifications for our robotic platforms, a list of lab equipment, information about accessing data repositories, and more.

Latest Expedition

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Seeking Salt Fingers in the Tropical Atlantic
In the northwestern equatorial Atlantic, the water column is highly stratified, with warm, salty water sitting atop cooler, fresher, nutrient-rich waters carried northward from the Antarctic by the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). These conditions make the region a hotspot for salt finger mixing, a fine-scale process in which heat and salt are exchanged across density gradients, leading to waters sinking and rising in a beautiful, swirling motion. Scientists suspect that these salt fingers transport essential nutrients for plankton growth, such as nitrate, to the surface, thereby fueling ecosystem productivity and potentially influencing carbon export to deeper waters. Drs. Joseph Gradone, Corday Selden of Rutgers University, U.S., and an international team will venture to the Tropical Atlantic to collect essential data on salt fingers and their role in nutrient transport from the deep sea to surface waters. Scientific evidence suggests that salt fingers in this region are intensifying as waters warm and their salinity changes, driven by the ocean absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere. Gradone and Selden hypothesize that this trend is amplifying salt-finger mixing and potentially offsetting predicted ocean productivity loss in the region by carrying more nutrients to the surface and altering ecosystem structure. Using R/V Falkor (too)’s CTD and rosette, two coordinated gliders, and an untethered, autonomous oceanographic vehicle called the Vertical Microstructure Profiler 5500, they will improve our understanding of the physical dynamics of salt fingers and their impact on primary productivity in this region of the global Ocean.
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Mirando a Través de Tres Ojos

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For an English version of the blog, please click here

Así es como se ve el pez cola de ratón una vez que se procesan los datos. El nivel de detalle es notable.

Al final del día, y gracias a muchas herramientas de navegación, producimos un mapa que muestra detalles extremadamente finos del área que investigamos. Cada sensor tiene una resolución diferente: las cámaras miden 5 milímetros, el sonar aproximadamente 5 -centímetros, y el lidar está cerca de 1 centímetro entre medidas. Eso nos permite acercarnos a contar pólipos en los corales, o medir el tamaño de la abertura en una chimenea. Ten en cuenta que estamos haciendo esto durante muchas horas, por lo que estos mapas finales son enormes en su escala general.

Sentarse frente a una de estas imágenes masivas es como visitar una imagen gigapixel

Esta expedición es la culminación de muchos años de trabajo para especificar, ensamblar, desarrollar y refinar estas herramientas. Estoy agradecido de que tengamos la oportunidad de venir a la Cuenca de Pescadero y usarlas. Pero somos científicos e ingenieros, no hay tiempo para dormirnos en nuestros laureles. Para algunos de nosotros, hay una montaña de datos para procesar. Para otros, esperamos con ansias cómo podemos mejorar o ampliar las capacidades de este sistema. Algún día, esperamos poner todos estos sensores en un AUV y abordar la multitud de problemas de control que enfrentan para automatizar levantamientos de baja altitud como estos. Por ahora, es hora de hacer copias de seguridad y llevar a casa más de 20 discos duros que hemos llenado desde que llegamos aquí.

Eric Martin es un ingeniero eléctrico del Monterey Bay Research Institute. A bordo de esta expedición, se enfoca en la operación de la carga útil de mapeo única que estudia los campos de ventilación hidrotermal.