Ward Lab graduate students Andrew Babbin (fourth from left) and Nick Peng (second on right) with other scientists getting ready to unload the 40-foot shipping container packed with scientific gear in Santiago, Chile.
The ETSP2013 Cruise is a research expedition to the Eastern Tropical North Pacific aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer ice-capable research ship that is occurring from June 23 – July 28, 2013. Members from five countries will make up the team of international scientists to explore the ocean waters off the coasts of Peru and Chile. The cruise objective is to better understand the nitrogen cycle processes in deep tropical waters, specifically on how nitrogen-loss factors influence ocean biogeochemical cycles.
Participating research teams are from The University of Washington, Princeton University, and Stanford University; Southampton University in the UK; Aarhus University in Denmark; and the Chilean universities of The University of Mayor, The University de Concepción, The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and the University of Chile. The cruise is funded in part by the US National Science Foundation.
The cruise will be led by chief scientist is Prof. of Chemical Oceanography Allan Devol (UW), whose main interest in the expedition is to explore Carbon and Nitrogen dynamics in the oxygen minimum zones of Peru's and Chile's waters. Other professors onboard are Prof. of Oceanography Rick Keil (UW), Prof. of Oceanography Osvaldo Ulloa (Concepción), William J. Sinclair Prof. of Geosciences Bess Ward (PU), Asso. Prof. Mark Warner (UW), and Asst. Prof. Peter Von Dassow (Pontifical). Also onboard is Dr. Ger van den Engh from BD Biosciences, a medical technology company headquartered in the US.
You can follow this five-week long expedition by visiting a blog and website set up by UW Prof. Rick Keil and PU grad student Andrew Babbin. It is suggested that other scientists and students will be blogging in several different languages.
Blog: http://etsp2013.wordpress.com/
Picture Gallery: http://etsp2013.wordpress.com/pictures/
Who’s Aboard: http://etsp2013.wordpress.com/whos-aboard/
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