Since 1995 the Atlantic Meridional Transect program (AMT - www.amt-uk.org) has undertaken extensive measurements of oceanographic and atmospheric variables on a passage between the UK and destinations in the South Atlantic (Falkland Islands, Chile, Uruguay and South Africa). This program, which spans up to 100° of latitude, crosses a range of ecosystems from sub-polar to tropical, from eutrophic shelf seas and upwelling systems, to oligotrophic mid-ocean gyres. The AMT was originally conceived to utilise the bi-annual passage of the RRS James Clark Ross (JCR) between its home-base in the UK and its field-base in the Falklands. In 2008, cruises switched from bi-annual to annual, taking place during the boreal autumn (austral spring). Throughout the lifetime of the AMT program, the objectives have evolved to address topical research questions whilst enabling the maintenance of a continuous set of observations relevant to global environmental issues.
AMT is unique in its ability to acquire repeat data of core parameters on long north-south transects of the Atlantic Ocean and to make these observations across basin scales. This spatially extensive decadal dataset is made available to the wider community through the British Oceanographic Data Centre (http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/amt/).
This Research Topic will address questions that arise from the programme's current objectives to: quantify the nature and causes of ecological and biogeochemical variability in planktonic ecosystems; to quantify the effects of this variability on nutrient cycling, on biogenic export and on air-sea exchange of climate active gases; to construct a multi-decadal, multidisciplinary ocean time-series which is integrated within a wider “pole-to-pole” observatory concept; to provide essential sea-truth validation for current and next-generation satellite missions; and to provide essential data for global ecosystem model development and validation.
We invite the submission of research papers that utilise the full extent of this programme and which may offer syntheses of large data-sets gathered over time and space and also those which are more hypothesis led and which focus on particular aspects of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry. Papers will reflect the AMT programme objectives detailed above and particular themes are likely to involve: the biodiversity and biogeography of planktonic communities; size class analysis of planktonic species through direct measurement and remote sensing observations; trends in biogeochemical and ecological features over the last two and a half decades; sources and fluxes of trace metal species; carbon cycling and export; air-sea gas exchange.
Since 1995 the Atlantic Meridional Transect program (AMT - www.amt-uk.org) has undertaken extensive measurements of oceanographic and atmospheric variables on a passage between the UK and destinations in the South Atlantic (Falkland Islands, Chile, Uruguay and South Africa). This program, which spans up to 100° of latitude, crosses a range of ecosystems from sub-polar to tropical, from eutrophic shelf seas and upwelling systems, to oligotrophic mid-ocean gyres. The AMT was originally conceived to utilise the bi-annual passage of the RRS James Clark Ross (JCR) between its home-base in the UK and its field-base in the Falklands. In 2008, cruises switched from bi-annual to annual, taking place during the boreal autumn (austral spring). Throughout the lifetime of the AMT program, the objectives have evolved to address topical research questions whilst enabling the maintenance of a continuous set of observations relevant to global environmental issues.
AMT is unique in its ability to acquire repeat data of core parameters on long north-south transects of the Atlantic Ocean and to make these observations across basin scales. This spatially extensive decadal dataset is made available to the wider community through the British Oceanographic Data Centre (http://www.bodc.ac.uk/projects/uk/amt/).
This Research Topic will address questions that arise from the programme's current objectives to: quantify the nature and causes of ecological and biogeochemical variability in planktonic ecosystems; to quantify the effects of this variability on nutrient cycling, on biogenic export and on air-sea exchange of climate active gases; to construct a multi-decadal, multidisciplinary ocean time-series which is integrated within a wider “pole-to-pole” observatory concept; to provide essential sea-truth validation for current and next-generation satellite missions; and to provide essential data for global ecosystem model development and validation.
We invite the submission of research papers that utilise the full extent of this programme and which may offer syntheses of large data-sets gathered over time and space and also those which are more hypothesis led and which focus on particular aspects of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry. Papers will reflect the AMT programme objectives detailed above and particular themes are likely to involve: the biodiversity and biogeography of planktonic communities; size class analysis of planktonic species through direct measurement and remote sensing observations; trends in biogeochemical and ecological features over the last two and a half decades; sources and fluxes of trace metal species; carbon cycling and export; air-sea gas exchange.
