Snowy end to Leg I

Latitude: 61°48′ N
Longitude: 005°54′ W
Air temperature: 6.7°C
Wind: 14 knots, south-west
by Michael St John, Seniour Scientist onboard FS METEOR

FS METEOR under snow near Faroe Islands.© C.Lindemann, DTU Aqua

Greetings from Meteor docked in Thorshavn, Faroe Islands. Here we are just finishing off our first circuit around the triangle. The weather gods have been relatively friendly, we have missed but a few hours due to rough seas which is rather surprising. To give you an idea, last night we had snow on the deck leading some to test their snowball skills, but again, no big seas.

The night before we took a wave over the back deck that twisted the big metal frame of the MOCNESS. The power of water is truly amazing! It seems every time we get close to the side of the boat, Neptune has a greeting for us. This is now an expected by all on board. I guess he does not want to give up his secrets without a comment or two. Anyway, we can hope for more friendly weather for the next leg, but as we all know this can be a stormy time of the year.

The Atlantic stirs up

TARA position: N 44°00′, W 016°42
FS METEOR position: N 53°30′, W 012°42′
Time: 02:00 GMT
by Ivo Grigorov, EURO-BASIN Project Office

40 knot winds hit TARA`s position, 300 n.miles west of Galicia, Spain, as FS METEOR steams north towards Deep Convection sampling station.

As FS METEOR leaves the position of the TARA320 nautical miles west of Galicia, Spain, and head north towards the sampling area, TARA hits 40-50 knots winds. The low atmospheric depression was not only expected, but wished for.

TARA is currently wrapping up her last station of the 2.5 yrs TARA OCEANS Expedition before entering the port of Lorient, France, on 31 March.

METEOR! This is TARA.

Latitude: 45°18′ N
Longitude: 013°06′ W
Time: 09:00 GMT
by Ivo Grigorov, from the EURO-BASIN Project Office

Stéphane Pesant, Chief Scientist on the last TARA Oceans Expedition, and collaborator on the EURO-BASIN "Deep Convection" Cruise
© Vincent Hilaire, TARA Oceans

This morning, on its way to the sampling location north of the Faroe Islands, FS METEOR passed just 200 nautical miles east of TARA`s position. The 36 meter, two-mast sailing vessel is on its last oceanographic mission of the TARA OCEANS expedition, and performing one the last experiments on that mission.

The Chief Scientist, Stéphane Pesant contacted FS METEOR via email to inform the scientific party of his plans. Although the two vessels will sample different parts of the North Atlantic, the objective is the same: arrive before the spring phytoplankton bloom and observe the transition from winter to spring.