GEOTRACES Atlantic Section: Total Dissolved Cobalt and Cobalt Speciation in the North Atlantic

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The international GEOTRACES program has been developed to produce a global framework of key trace elements and isotopes that will describe the contemporary distributions of these properties in the ocean. This information can then be used to constrain models of the processes and fluxes of biogeochemically important elements and key tracers that frame flux processes and transformations. A scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution plans to participate in the 2010 GEOTRACES cruise to the North Atlantic and measure cobalt (Co) and Co speciation in surface samples and throughout the water column. Samples will be taken from all physical and biogeochemical processes that influence trace metals and their isotopes, namely strong meridional advection, boundary scavenging and sources, aeolian deposition, and input of intermediate waters from the Mediterranean and Labrador Seas. The resultant dataset should provide insight into the sources, sinks and chemical speciation of this element. This research will greatly contribute to the small amount of data that exists on cobalt in the marine environment and provide a greater understanding of cobalt biogeochemistry. In regard to educational impacts, this research will provide support for a post-doctoral researcher as well as a graduate student.