SWINGS

South West Indian Geotraces Section

Coordination

Hélène PLANQUETTE et Catherine JEANDEL

Project type

International

Funding

ANR, LEFE-CYBER & IsBLUE

Project duration

Start Date

January 20, 2020

End Date

November 30, 2024

In the remote Southern Ocean considered as a nutrient “hub” between the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the sources, sinks and processes controlling vital nutrient distribution and thus the biological carbon pump remain a black-box to date. In this context, SWINGS is a multidisciplinary 4-year project dedicated to elucidate trace element sources, transformations and sinks along a section crossing key areas of the Southern Ocean. Major French contribution to the international GEOTRACES programme SWINGS involves 80 scientists (19 international laboratories, 6 countries). The major piece of this ambitious project is the oceanographic cruise “SWINGS” (South Indian Ocean GEOTRACES Section) to which 48 researchers will participate.

The French GEOTRACES SWINGS GS02 cruise started from La Réunion island (France) on January 13th, 2021 and end at the same place on March 8th, 2021.  During 54 days, many stations have been sampled with various pieces of equipment on board the Marion Dufresne II research vessel in order to elucidate trace element sources, transformations and sinks in key areas of the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean contributing to the global effort of the GEOTRACES programme.

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The team

Contributors

  • LOPS
  • LOCEAN
  • CEREGE
  • LEGOS
  • LSCE
  • MIO
  • LOMIC
  • LOV
  • WHOI
  • Florida State University
  • Florida International University
  • ETH Zürich
  • University of Cape Town
  • University of Liverpool
  • Plymouth University
  • MPI Germany