The Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) was a global survey of the three-dimensional distributions of chemical,
isotopic, and
radiochemical tracer
Tracer may refer to:
Science
* Flow tracer, any fluid property used to track fluid motion
* Fluorescent tracer, a substance such as 2-NBDG containing a fluorophore that is used for tracking purposes
* Histochemical tracer, a substance used for tr ...
s in the ocean. A key objective was to investigate the deep
thermohaline circulation of the ocean, using chemical tracers, including radiotracers, to establish the pathways taken by this.
Expeditions undertaken during GEOSECS took place in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
from July 1972 to May 1973, in the
Pacific Ocean from August 1973 to June 1974, and in the
Indian Ocean from December 1977 to March 1978.
Measurements included those of physical oceanographic quantities such as
temperature,
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
,
pressure and
density, chemical / biological quantities such as
total inorganic carbon,
alkalinity,
nitrate
Nitrate is a polyatomic ion
A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...
,
phosphate,
silicic acid,
oxygen and
apparent oxygen utilisation
In freshwater or marine systems apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) is the difference between oxygen gas solubility (i.e. the concentration at saturation) and the measured oxygen concentration in water with the same physical and chemical properties ...
(AOU), and radiochemical / isotopic quantities such as
carbon-13,
carbon-14
Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
and
tritium.
See also
*
Global Ocean Data Analysis Project
The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a synthesis project bringing together oceanographic data, featuring two major releases as of 2018. The central goal of GLODAP is to generate a global climatology of the World Ocean's carbon cycle f ...
(GLODAP)
*
Joint Global Ocean Flux Study
The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) was an international research programme on the fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere and ocean, and within the ocean interior. Initiated by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the progr ...
(JGOFS)
*
World Ocean Atlas
The World Ocean Atlas (WOA) is a data product of the Ocean Climate Laboratory of the National Oceanographic Data Center (U.S.). The WOA consists of a climatology of fields of ''in situ'' ocean properties for the World Ocean. It was first produced ...
(WOA)
*
World Ocean Circulation Experiment
The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) was a component of the international World Climate Research Program, and aimed to establish the role of the World Ocean in the Earth's climate system. WOCE's field phase ran between 1990 and 1998, and ...
(WOCE)
References
External links
GEOSECS data
GEOSECS data Ocean Data View Ocean Data View (ODV) is a proprietary, freely available, software package for the analysis and visualization of oceanographic and meteorological data sets.
ODV is used by a large number of oceanographers. The UNESCO Ocean Teacher project employs O ...
''Rivers of the Sea: The Story of GEOSECS'' 1975 documentary about the study
{{physical oceanography
Biological oceanography
Carbon
Chemical oceanography
Oceanography
Physical oceanography