METEOR M197

Current climate models indicate that local warming is reducing nutrient supply to the surface ocean, leading to changes in the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. The increased intensity and frequency of extreme events (droughts, floods, surface ocean heating) pose additional, unknown consequences for biogeochemical and ecosystem processes. The EMS-PS program's primary goal is to leverage the rapidly changing Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS) as a natural laboratory to gain a mechanistic understanding of biogeochemical and ecosystem transitions in a future (sub-)tropical ocean impacted by global warming and other anthropogenic pressures.
The objectives of the M197 cruise aboard RV Meteor are as follows: (i) characterize nutrient biogeochemistry and phytoplankton nutrient limitation in Eastern Mediterranean Sea waters, (ii) meticulously document microbial communities inhabiting these waters from the surface ocean to sediments, (iii) evaluate mechanistic connections between nutrient biogeochemistry, surface ocean productivity, deeper water metabolism, and shelf sediments in the carbon and major nutrient cycling, (iv) utilize sedimentary records to assess past environmental changes in the EMS.
Our M197 research cruise observations will complement existing autonomous platforms in the EMS and satellite observations to comprehensively document spatial and temporal changes.