Chemistry and circulation of the Mediterranean Sea

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The last few decades has seen dramatic changes in the circulation of the Mediterranean Sea. This is manifested amongst others as a shift of deep water formation from the Adriatic to the Aegean Seas. The deep water formed from these two sources has different properties of salinity and temperature and different biogeochemical signature. The characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea are such that it has the potential to sequester large amounts of anthropogenic CO2, Cant, (i.e. high alkalinity and temperature and an active overturning circulation). In fact, the column inventories of Cant are higher in the Mediterranean than anywhere else in the world ocean, and the Cant storage in the Mediterranean is a significant portion of the anthropogenic emissions of CO2. However, few carbon data exist in the Mediterranean Sea, and very little is known about how the recent changes in circulation has affected the storage rate of Cant. The proposed project will support measurements of samples for determination of helium isotopes, tritium and neon that we plan to sample during a cruise on the RV Meteor (M84/2) on a section across the Mediterranean Sea, and will support a scientist to evaluate the data from the cruise. This program will extend an existing time-series of tracer data in the Mediterranean Sea.