Sitting between Greenland and Svalbard is a deep-water passage that connects the Arctic Ocean with the Northern Atlantic to the south. Today this passage is best defined by the presence of a warm northward flowing current west of Spitsbergen (WSC) and the cool southward flowing East Greenland Current (EGC). By looking at the northward flowing current, which moves heat, salt, and moisture into the Arctic region, Expedition 403: “Eastern Fram Strait Paleo-Archive” will collect crucial data to ground-truth climate models of projected future CO2, temperature, ocean circulation, sea ice, and present Earth ice sheet stability.
Led by Renata Giulia Lucchi (National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics-OGS) and Kristen St. John (James Madison University), Expedition 403 will depart from the port of Amsterdam in early June. Making the voyage northward, the researchers plan to drill at six primary sites along the western shore of Svalbard’s largest land mass. At the deepest point, the expedition aims to retrieve samples from 738 meters below the sea floor.
Original full article here.
