Oceanography Projects

• Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) - Summary of research of experiments to record temperatures in the ocean in order to verify existing climate models by using sound. An additional study was conducted to see what impact the underwater noise had on marine animals.
• Adriatic Dolphin Project (ADP) - Research and conservation of bottlenose dolphins in the Adriatic Sea, and protecting whole marine environment through research, conservation and education activities.
• Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystems (ASCLME) - Aims to gather information on oceanographic conditions and how they interact with and influence the climate, biodiversity and economies of the western Indian Ocean region, ultimately leading to regional management of the marine resources.
• Air Sea GAS EXchange MAGE (ASGAMAGE) - Investigating the way the sea and the atmosphere exchange greenhouse gases.
• A_Model for Biodiversity Studies : Integrating Environmental and Population Variation (AMBIOS). - To determine the interrelationships between the physical properties of ecosystems and the ecology of organisms in the generation of biodiversity.
• Antarctic Circumpolar Current Levels by Altimetry and Island Measurements (ACCLAIM) - Measurements from coastal tide gauges and bottom pressure stations, together with an ongoing research programme in satellite altimetry in the South Atlantic and Southern Oceans.
• Arctic Climate System Study (ACSYS) - Concentrating on the understanding of Arctic Ocean variability and change including sea ice processes.
• ArcticNet - Collaborative effort joins Canadian university researchers and government officials with scientists from Japan, Europe, Russia and the US to study the impacts of climate change in the coastal Canadian Arctic.
• Argo Project - Global array of free-drifting profiling floats that will measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean in or near real-time.
• Atlantic Data Base for Exchange Processes at the Deep Sea Floor (ADEPD) - Network of European researchers involved in geochemical and biological processes in the deep sea of the Atlantic.
• Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) - Undertakes biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research in the North and South Atlantic Ocean and along the north-west coast of Africa.
• Atmospheric Chemistry Studies in the Oceanic Environment (ACSOE) - A UK NERC Thematic Research Programme to investigate the chemistry of the lower atmosphere (0 - 12 km) over the oceans. The studies aim to bring about a clearer understanding of natural processes in the remote marine atmosphere, and how these processes are affected by atmospheric pollution originating from the continents. This information is vital in understanding regional and global-scale changes in atmospheric chemistry and climate.
• Atmospheric Deposition and Impact (ADIOS) - Created to study the impact of the atmosphere pollutants and natural substances affects the biochemistry of the Mediterranean Sea. Page includes current problems, approach methods and objectives of the study.
• Autonomous System for Monitoring Air-Sea Fluxes (AutoFlux) - The study aims to develop and test (in both laboratory and the field) an autonomous atmospheric measuring system which will measure surface stress, sensible and latent heat flux and also carbon dioxide flux.
• Autosub Under Ice (AUTOSUB) - Explores the marine environment beneath floating ice shelves using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the programme brings together UK researchers from a broad range of disciplines to investigate the role of sub-ice shelf processes in the climate system.
• Baltic Air-Sea-Ice Study (BASIS). - An EC MAST III study to create and analyse experimental process data for optimization and verification of atmosphere-ice-ocean models.
• Baltic Sea Experiment (BALTEX) - A cage experiment to assess the total heat and water flux divergence of the BALTEX area. The basic BALTEX programme elements include numerical modelling, data assimilation, experimental and numerical process studies, re-analysis of existing data sets, and application of remote sensing.
• Baltic Sea System Study (BASYS). - Examines the susceptibility of the Baltic Sea to external forcing and to improve the quantification of past and present fluxes in the area.
• Bedford Basin Plankton Monitoring Program (BBPMP) - A weekly record of phytoplankton, bacterioplankton, nutrients, temperature, salinity and oxygen at the deepest point of the Halifax Harbour inlet system (Canada).
• Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study (BATS) - A long time-series study of biogeochemical cycles of the sea near Bermuda.
• Biological Effects of Environmental Pollution (BEEP) - The goal of this research is to evaluate the potential of using biological markers determined in marine organisms as a means of assessment of chemical contamination and to investigate the socio-economic implications for certain selected zones.
• Black Sea Ecosystem Processes and Forecasting/Operational Database Management System - Project started in 1999 as co-operation between major regional marine research institutions with support of NATO Science for Peace Programme to explore, quantify and predict ecosystem variability of the Black Sea
• The Carlsberg Ridge Cruise - Discusses the trip of the research ship RRS Charles Darwin took to go study the undersea ridge located between eastern Africa and the Seychelle Islands. Purpose of the study was too look at the magma rising up from beneath the ocean floor. Page includes geology background of the area, onboard equipment, an introduction to the science team, and photo gallery.
• CLImatic VAriability of the Mediterranean Paleo-circulation (CLIVAMP). - CLIVAMP is a research program whose objective is to investigate the long term variations of the thermohaline circulation of the Mediterranean Sea for time scales ranging from interannual up to changes during the ice ages. CLIVAMP will thus study the different states of the Mediterranean Sea during the past, its paleo-circulation and the processes affecting the ventilation and the overturning of the water masses.
• Coastal and Shelf Sea Interactions (COIN). - The overall aim of the NERC CCMS "COIN" project is to improve the understanding of the active processes in coastal and shelf seas and their essential interactions, thereby enabling the development of coupled models for forecasting and management into the next century.
• Coastal Observatory, Liverpool Bay (COBS) - Coastal Observatory built on real-time measurements and model predictions with particular focus on the Irish Sea and Liverpool Bay hosted by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory.
• Coastal Study Of Three - Dimensional Sand Transport Processes And Morphodynamics (COAST-3D). - The purpose of the COAST3D project is to improve understanding of the physics of coastal sand transport and morphodynamics, and to produce validated modelling tools, and methodologies for their use, in a form suitable for coastal zone management.
• Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey (CPR) - Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science runs the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey, a long term plankton survey in the North Atlantic and North Sea. The database is online.
• Copepod-Diatom Relations in Dabob Bay - Copepod - Diatom relations research by the University of Washington's School of Oceanography.
• Coriolis - French project for operational oceanography with the objective of developing automatic and permanent observation networks. Find project description, news and contacts.
• Cornell Morocco Project - Cooperative research between Cornell University, Morocco and Spain to study the geodynamics of the western Mediterranean (Alboran) region. Page includes current projects and completed research summaries.
• COSINUS Project - Prediction of Cohesive Sediment transport and bed morphodynamics in estuaries and coastal zones with Integrated Numerical Simulation models.
• COupled Hydrodynamical Ecological model for REgioNal Shelf seas (COHERENS) - COHERENS is a European funded project for the scientific and technical validation and the dissemination and exploitation of a three-dimensional integrated model for coastal and shelf seas developed over the period 1990-1996 within two previous MAST projects.
• Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Processes and European Climate (COAPEC) - The goal of COAPEC is to determine the impact on climate, especially European climate, of the coupling between the Atlantic Ocean and the atmosphere, including the influence of ENSO on this coupling.
• Deep Tow Research Group - Research on deep water marine sediments that applies deep tow high resolution seismic and sediment core analysis. Gulf of Mexico bathymetry maps and marine geology links are available.
• EnviWave - EnviWave's main objective is to validate altimenter and ASAR wind and wave sensors against buoys, wave models and other satellites.
• Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) - A consortium formed by a group of scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) with the technical goal of the sustained production and evaluation of continuing three-dimensional estimates of the global state of the ocean in near-real time in support programs such as GODAE and CLIVAR.
• European Directory of the Initial Ocean-observing System (EDIOS) - Searchable directory of ocean observing, measuring, and monitoring systems.
• European Sea Level Service (ESEAS) - Centralised depository of European Sea Level Data.
• European Seafloor Observatory Network (ESONET) - Comprises a network of long-term, sea floor, multi-disciplinary observatories at key provinces around the European margin providing continuous vigilance in relation to geophysical, biogeochemical, oceanographic and biological phenomena.
• Eurosion - Project commissioned by the General Directorate Environment of the European Commission, which will result in policy recommendations on how to manage coastal erosion in Europe in the most sustainable way.
• Forum Skagerrak - A common initiative of the regions surrounding Skagerrak, in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, to find solutions to prioritised environmental problems where co-operation can lead to effective measures. The project, was partly financed by EU Interreg IIC and ran from October 1999 to June 2001 with a budget of 600K Euro.
• General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) - Consists of an international group of experts who work on the development of a range of publicly-available bathymetric data sets and seafloor topography products. View data and products and learn of the available training opportunities.
• Global AssimilatioN Applied to Modelling of European Shelf Seas (GANES) - This EU-CEO project will use satellite altimeter and radiometer data assimilated into global ocean models, to provide ocean current, temperature and salinity boundary conditions for shelf and coastal models which predict sea-levels and currents around Europe.
• Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) - a cooperative effort to generate a unified data set and to determine the global distribution and inventories of inorganic nutrients, both natural and anthropogenic carbon species and natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon from data acquired from several projects such as WOCE, JGOFS, OACES.
• Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics - aims to advance our understanding of the global ocean ecosystem and how it responds to global climate change. GLOBEC investigates the links between climate and marine ecosystems.
• Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) - Project intended to be a permanent global system for observations, modeling and analysis of variables needed to support operational ocean services worldwide. Find project description, articles, calendar, contacts and staff profiles.
• Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) - GLOSS aims at the establishment of high quality global and regional sea level networks for application to climate, oceanographic and coastal sea level research. The programme became known as GLOSS as it provides data for deriving the 'Global Level of the Sea Surface'.
• Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) - GRACE will be able to map the Earth's gravity fields by making accurate measurements of the distance between two satellites, using GPS and a microwave ranging system. It will provide scientists with a way to map the Earth's gravity fields. The results from this mission will yield information about the distribution and flow of mass within the Earth and its oceans and surroundings.
• Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) - an effort to assist countries adjacent to the guinea current ecosystem to achieve environmental and resource sustainability.
• Hydrothermal Vent Program (VENTS) - Established in 1984, conducts research on the impacts and consequences of submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal venting on the global ocean.
• Imperial College Ocean Model (ICOM) - an unstructured adaptive finite element ocean model being developed at Imperial College, London.
• INlet Dynamics Initiative : Algarve (INDIA). - The INDIA Project is motivated primarily by a requirement to improve understanding of the interacting hydrodynamic and sedimentological processes at work in the European coastal zone and to develop improved methodologies to predict changes in morphology. Undertaking such a study requires a dynamic natural field site where processes are sufficiently active to result in observable changes in the physical environment over a time span commensurate with a realistic field campaign.
• Integrated Coastal Zone Management in France, Norway and Greece (COASTMAN) - Comparative analysis of institutional arrangement experiences and needs for Integrated Coastal Zone Management in France, Norway and Greece.
• Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) - A new international partnership of scientists and research institutions organized to explore Earth's structure and history through scientific ocean drilling. The research program will start in October 2003.
• International Marine Global Change Studies (IMAGES) - a global program to collect and study marine sediment records. The overriding IMAGES science issue is to quantify climate and chemical variability of the ocean on time scales of oceanic and cryospheric processes; to determine its sensitivity to identified internal and external forcings, and to determine its role in controlling atmospheric CO2.
• Jason - an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, discover the tie between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño conditions and ocean eddies. The Jason-1 satellite carries a radar altimeter and it is a follow-on mission to the highly successful TOPEX/Poseidon mission. It is joint mission between France and USA. The satellite will be launched in May 2000.
• Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) - An international programme to assess more accurately, and understand better the processes controlling, regional to global and seasonal to interannual fluxes of carbon between the atmosphere, surface ocean and ocean interior, and their sensitivity to climate changes.
• Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) - The LOICZ Project focuses on the area of the earth's surface where land, ocean and atmosphere meet and interact. The overall goal of this project is to determine at regional and global scales: the nature of that dynamic interaction; how changes in various components of the Earth system are affecting coastal zones and altering their role in global cycles; to assess how future changes in these areas will affect their use by people; to provide a sound scientific basis for future integrated management of coastal areas on a sustainable basis.
• Louisiana-Texas Shelf Physical Oceanography Program (LATEX) - A six-year research initiative that has as its principal objective the identification of processes governing the circulation, transport, and cross-shelf mixing of the waters on the Texas-Louisiana shelf.
• Marine and Freshwater Microbial Biodiversity (M&FMB) - Researching aquatic microbial biodiversity in the context of community interactions and ecosystem function, investigating the potential of marine and freshwater microbes for biotechnological exploitation.
• Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change (MarClim) - Uses novel syntheses of existing long-term data on temperature-sensitive, readily observed intertidal climate indicator species to make predictions on changes in coastal diversity that may result from global warming.
• Marine Productivity (MARPROD) - Developed coupled model and observational systems for the pelagic ecosystem, with emphasis on physical factors affecting zooplankton population dynamics. Marine Productivity was the UK contribution to the international Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) project.
• MAss Transfer and Ecosystem Response (MTP II-MATER) - The overall objective of the MTP II MATER is to study and to quantify the triggering and controlling mechanisms of mass and energy transfer between the different compartments (land - sea, sea - atmosphere, water - sediment, living - non living, pelagos - benthos), in contrasting trophic environments (from eutrophic to oligotrophic) of the Mediterranean Sea and to investigate the ecosystem response to such a transfer.
• Molecular Ecology of the Photosynthetic Procaryote Prochlorococcus (PROMOLEC). - The EC MAST III project was centered on an important and recently discovered genus of marine photosynthetic microorganism: Prochlorococcus. This prokaryote proliferates in oligotrophic areas, including the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and is the tiniest and numerically the most abundant photosynthetic organism and accounts for a large part (up to 50%) of the photosynthetic biomass and primary production in these areas.
• Monitoring the Atlantic Inflow Toward the Arctic (MAIA) - Developing a system based on coastal sea-level data for monitoring the inflows of Atlantic Water to the northern seas.
• Multidisciplinary Oceanographic Research in the Eastern Boundary of the North Atlantic (MORENA) - Measures, understands and models shelf-ocean exchange in a typical coastal upwelling region of the eastern boundary layer of the subtropical ocean.
• NEPTUNE Canada - The NorthEast Pacific Time-Series Undersea Networked Experiments project is a regional-scale ocean observatory for interactive, real-time, long term ocean and earth studies and is led in Canada by the University of Victoria.
• NEPTUNE US - Project to establish a regional-scale ocean observatory in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The Project's 3,000-km network of fiber-optic/power cables will encircle and cross the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate in the northeast Pacific Ocean, an area roughly 500 km by 1,000 km in size. The project office is located at the University of Washington in Seattle.
• NERC Autosub Missions Thematic Programme (Autosub) - aims ultimately to provide scientists with the capability to collect routine physical, biological, chemical and geophysical data, to depths of 6000 metres and over transects of several thousands of kilometres via autonomous underwater vehicles.
• Network for Environmental Observation of the Coastal Ocean (NEOCO) - Real-time coastal monitoring project based in California designed to monitor a wide spectrum of temporal and spatial variability in the coastal ocean environment.
• New Millennium Observatory Network (NeMO NeT) - Hydrothermal vent monitoring - links instruments and a camera located within the caldera of a submarine volcano to the Internet.
• North East Atlantic, Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian sea experiment (NEAT GIN) - The NEAT GIN experiment took place during September-October 1989 at the Norwegian shelf edge near 68°N. Seven moorings, five in a closely-spaced cross-slope section, have proved a valuable precursor to the Shelf Edge Study (SES) west of Scotland. The NEAT GIN data analysis has now been completed.
• North Pacific Marine Research Program (NPMR) - NPMR is dedicated to scientific research in the Bering Sea and adjacent waters, with the goal of better understanding the oceanic and ecological systems.
• North Sea Model Advection Dispersion Study (NOMADS ) - an intercomparison of advection-dispersion models for the North West European continental shelf presently available and being used at various institutes within the European Union.
• Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean - NEMO is a modeling framework for oceanographic research and operational oceanography. It allows ocean related components (ocean dynamics, ice, biogeochemisty) to work together and to be interfaced with the component of the earth system.
• Observations and Modelling of Eddy Scale Geostrophic and Ageostrophic Circulation (OMEGA) - Aims to study the three-dimensional ageostrophic circulation and quantitatively estimate the vertical velocity and to evaluate the impact of the ageostrophic vertical motion on biogeochemical properties.
• Ocean Circulation and Climate Advanced Modelling Project (OCCAM) - The OCCAM project has developed two high resolution (1/4 and 1/8 degree) models of the World Ocean - including the Arctic Ocean and marginal seas such as the Mediterranean. The project is being carried out by researchers at the Southampton Oceanography Centre in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of East Anglia and Edinburgh.
• Ocean Colour for the Determination of Water Column Biological Processes (BIOCOLOR) - The aim of this study is relate changes in the properties of the water column and associated successions in the phytoplankton with changes in optical properties and ocean colour. Models based on these relationships will be developed and validated. These models will facilitate the interpretation of measurements of ocean colour (remote or in-situ) in terms of the temporal and spatial structures of phytoplankton communities.
• Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) - "An International Partnership in Geological Oceanography" -- Texas A&M University
• Ocean Margins (LINK) - Aimed at the geological understanding of ocean margins to improve prediction in exploration and reservoir characterisation for developing deep-water oil fields.
• Physiological Ecology of a Pelagic crustacean (PEP). - Impact of a Climatic Gradient on the Physiological Ecology of a Pelagic crustacean - a study of the functional marine biodiversity as a basis for understanding ecosystem structure, dynamics and resilience is focused on the Northern krill. The patterns of diversity in this species - an important component of Atlantic communities - will be investigated at specific locations in the north-eastern Atlantic, the Kattegat and the Meditarranean.
• PRe-Operational Modelling In the Seas of Europe (PROMISE). - PROMISE's objectives are to develop a framework in which to optimise the application of existing pre-operational dynamical models of the North Sea and to quantify sediment exchange rates and scales between coast and the near-shore. PROMISE is an EU-RTD Project.
• Processes in Regions of Fresh Water Influence (PROFILE) - studies the role of physical processes controlling water-property distributions, suspended sediments controlling the availability of light, nutrients and phytoplankton growth. The project comprises development of a 3-D nearshore model, measurements in contrasted ROFIs and comparisons between them.
• PROcesses of Vertical Exchange in Shelf Seas (PROVESS). - PROVESS is a joint European MAST III funded interdisciplinary study of vertical fluxes of properties through the water column and the surface and bottom boundaries based on the integrated application of new measuring techniques, new advances in turbulence theory and new models.
• Projections of ice-diminished Arctic Ocean (IDAO) - Examines the historical evolution of the arctic ice-ocean system and projects a diminished arctic sea-ice cover with multiple warming scenarios.
• Rapid Climate Change (RAPID) - A £20 million, six-year (2001-2007) programme of the Natural Environment Research Council. The programme aims to improve our ability to quantify the probability and magnitude of future rapid change in climate, with a main (but not exclusive) focus on the role of the Atlantic Ocean's Thermohaline Circulation.
• RAPID Meridional Overturning Circulation data (RAPIDMOC) - Near real time data from key moorings, deployed as part of a monitoring array at 26.5°N to measure the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Part of the NERC Rapid Climate Change programme.
• Regional STOrm, WAve and SUrge Scenarios for the 2100 century (STOWASUS-2100) - Aims to study severe storms, surges and waves in the present climate and in a scenario with increased CO2-concentration. More specifically the project is a joint atmospheric/oceanographic numerical modelling effort aiming at constructing and analysing storm, wave and surge climatologies for the North Atlantic/European region in a climate forced by increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and to compare with present day conditions.
• Remote Sensing System For Mapping Submerged Vegetation for Coastal Zone Management (RESCOMAN) - A project aimed at developing a robust, operational and cost-efficient remote sensing system for mapping submerged vegetation as a means of assessing the environmental quality of coastal waters.
• Sapropels And Palaeoceanography (SAP). - The overall aim of this EC MAST III funded project is to better understand the (paleo) functioning of the eastern Mediterranean and to determine its role in the global environment by studying characteristic biogeochemical processes.
• Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) - Activities focus on promoting international cooperation in planning and conducting oceanographic research, and solving methodological and conceptual problems that hinder research. Scientists from thirty-six SCOR member nations participate in SCOR working groups and steering committees.
• @ Sea - Webzine features science adventures aboard Harbor Branch Oceanographic's research ships. Live coverage and original articles.
• Seasearch - UK project for volunteer sports divers who have an interest in what they're seeing under water, want to learn more and want to help protect the marine environment. The main aim is to map out the various types of sea bed found in the near-shore zone, up to about 5 miles off the coast or 30m depth around the whole of the British Isles.
• Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project - Provides quantitative data on global ocean bio-optical properties to the Earth science community. Subtle changes in ocean color signify various types and quantities of marine phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants), the knowledge of which has both scientific and practical applications.
• Significance of anthropogenic nitrogen for central Baltic Sea N-cycling (SIGNAL) - Addresses the question of eutrophication sources and what impact additional nitrogen has on the productivity in remote regions. Find project objectives, methods, results and photos.
• Soviet / American Gas and Aerosol expedition II (SAGA II) - The overall goal of SAGA II was to evaluate the sources, distributions, and fates of climatically significant trace species in the remote, marine environment.
• Surf and Swash Zone Mechanics (SASME) - The project investigates the physical processes which take place in the surf zone on a coast with and without structures. The project shall lead to significantly improved description of the cross-shore and longshore transport, which mainly occurs within the surf zone.
• Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) - A new international research initiative which has as its goal: 'To achieve quantitative understanding of the key biogeochemical-physical interactions and feedbacks between the ocean and the atmosphere, and how this coupled system affects and is affected by climate and environmental change'.
• Tropical Atmosphere Ocean Project (TAO) - The TAO Array of moored buoys measures oceanographic and surface meteorological variables critical for improved detection, understanding and prediction of seasonal-to-interannual climate variations originating in the tropics, most notably those related to the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
• UK Marine Special Areas of Conservation - The vast coastline and seas around the UK have a remarkable marine natural heritage and provide rich resources for both work and recreation. These are treasures that need to be safeguarded and the UK Marine SACs Project is playing a major role in achieving this.
• Under Sea Ice and Pelagic Surveys (USIPS) - Utilises Autosub-1, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), to investigate the physical and biological environment of the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ), and to assess the potential of AUVs for improving acoustic estimates of the biomass of fisheries resources.
• U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (U.S. JGOFS) - The US national component of the international Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) and an integral part of global climate change research. Supported primarily by the U.S. National Science Foundation in collaboration with the NOAA, NASA and the Department of Energy and the Office of Naval Research.
• Variability of Exchanges In the Northern Seas (VEINS). - The overall objective of VEINS was to measure and to model the variability of the fluxes between the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean with a view on implementing a longer term system of critical measurements needed to understand the high-latitude oceans steering role in decadal climate variability.
• World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) - The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) is a component of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and is the most ambitious oceanographic experiment undertaken to-date.