BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

FLUXES-1 Cruise (29SG20170711) carried out on the Research Vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa in 2017, Main goal: to quantify the lateral fluxes of organic matter through a sampling box of stations to estimate the role of POCs and DOC as sources and sinks of carbon in the region of study, compared to primary production, and the gravitational and active fluxes. Duration: 31 days (including navigation to/from Las Palmas) Activities: 38 stations, separated each other 50 nautical miles. An XBT will be dropped between each two stations to gain resolution for the inverse box-model

FLUXES-2 Cruise (29SG20171102) carried out on the Research Vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa in 2017, The main goal of FLUXES is to quantify the relevance of labile and semi-labile dissolved (DOC) and suspended (POCs) organic carbon (i.e. non-sinking organic carbon) in the context of the biological pump (BP), in Eastern Boundary Upwelling Ecosystems (EBUE). The Cape Blanc region (NW Africa), characterized by a rich mesoscale variability resulting from the interaction of the upwelling system and the Cape Verde Frontal Zone that built up the Giant Filament, will be used as a case study. We want to test the hypothesis that offshore lateral advection of POCs, as well as secondary circulation at the submesoscale range and vertical mixing of DOC and POCs, contribute significantly to the export of organic carbon in EBUE. If we were correct, our results will invite reconsideration of regional and global models of the carbon cycle, including the non-sinking carbon as a major pool and flux. We presume also that the project will help to clarify some uncertainties and paradoxes on the imbalance between sources and sinks of carbon in the global ocean. We aim to address the coupled dynamics between food-web diversity and function, in relation to the hydrographic and chemical environment in distinct deep-water masses, the origin and composition of DOC and POCs and their contribution to remineralization rates in the dark ocean. The level of complexity of this project in terms of fieldwork activities, logistics and interdisciplinary science (combining physical oceanography, biogeochemistry, and biological oceanography) will require the coordination of several research groups with a proven record of experience and skills in their respective fields of knowledge, that have been collaborating for more than a decade in the coupling between physical processes, plankton community structure and metabolism, and carbon biogeochemistry in the Canary Current EBUE