BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

AZORES-1 Cruise (29HE19980727) carried out on the Research Vessel Hespérides in 1998, Canarias Azores Gibraltar Observations (CANIGO). The Azores Current (AC) is one of the most important flows towards the Eastern Boundary of the North Atlantic, feeds the coastal upwelling of NW Africa and the Western Iberian Peninsula. This current flows east-southeast (110º) between 33-36 º N. The general objective of the cruise is to quantify the transport of salt, heat, nutrients, inorganic and organic carbon (dissolved and particulate), and to study its biological and optical implications, from the area formation of the AC close to Middle Alantic Ridge, to its dispersion and weakening in the Canary -Madeira region. The specific objectives: 1) To characterise the main physical features. Descripction and quantification of the flow associate to the AC, its counterflows and cold and warm ediies. 2) To mesure the vertical and horizontal transport of carbon and nutrients. Evaluatio of vertical carbon flux by sediment traps and the carbon dioxide air-sea exchange by measuring the sea surface atmospheric CO2 partial pressure. 3) To chemically characterise water masses, specially those transported by the AC and the Mediterranean water . It will allow to estimate the anthropogenic CO2 retained by water massess during ventilation processes. 4) To determine the spatial variability of phytoplankton ohotosynthetic parameters and ots relation with the natural light spectra. 5) To determinate the optical properties of the water column in the AC and its hydrological structures in relation to the chemical compounds and the plankton comnposition and activity. 6) To determine the bacteria activity and its influence on the remineralisation of organic matter. 7) To evaluate the importance of zooplankton migration as active transport of particulate matter below the photic zone as well as its contribution to tal carbon export to deep layers