Offshore atmospheric measurements

Our Tall tower Atmospheric Gas measurements group, led by Jošt Lavric, is participating in the South African TRace gas Experiment (SATRE) on-board the German research vessel FS Meteor. From August 2013, when the ship’s cruise started in Walvis Bay (Namibia), until its arrival in Mindelo (Cape Verde) in March 2014, we will continuously measure atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations.

The goal of this undertaking is to supplement various on-board measurements of our project partners, to complement our own atmospheric measurements at the Namib Desert Atmospheric Observatory (MPI-BGC) and the Cape Point atmospheric observatory (SAWS), to study the influence of the Benguela upwelling on the atmosphere, and to learn more about the latest atmospheric interhemispheric gradient.