ATLANTIC COMPANION COM12-20

Since 2006 the container ship M/V Atlantic Companion (Atlantic Container Lines) is equipped with instruments for various parameters. The ship serves on a regular service between North America and Europe and crosses the North Atlantic between Halifax/Canada and Liverpool/GB twice during its 5-week roundtrip. In addition to standard parameters, such as temperature and salinity, the following parameters are continuously measured in the surface water: CO2 partial pressure, dissolved oxygen and isotopic composition of CO2. The Companion is part of an international network of commercial vessels equipped with scientific instruments, so called “volunteer observing ships (VOS)”, in this region. The continuous measurements of this network deliver valuable information about the climate relevant role of the North Atlantic, as this part of the ocean is known to be one of the strongest sink for anthropogenic CO2. The VOS network enables us to observe seasonal as well as interannual variations and improves our understanding of the various processes in the North Atlantic.