The German research vessel Meteor has set sail from Ponta Delgada in the Azores on its expedition to Flemish Cap and Grand Banks in the NW Atlantic. Here, over a period of 4 weeks, the team on board will make new observations of the dynamic oceanographic conditions in this region. This area of the Atlantic is particularly important in helping to better understand the substantial discontinuities in the oceanic ‘conveyor belt’ at key latitudes in the Atlantic, which are often associated with sharp changes in topography.

This expedition will make important measurements of movements of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) into and out of the Transition Zone (TZ) between the subtropical and the subpolar North Atlantic, where ocean models show a breakdown of the meridional (north-south) coherence of the AMOC.

On board the Meteor, the EPOC team are enthusiastically sharing their progress via a regular blog – you can catch up with the latest updates from the ship, as well as learn more about the mission, via the M212 expedition pages.