Atlantic Network of Interdisciplinary Moorings And Time series for Europe

The European Community project ANIMATE was approved for funding in January 2001 and is expected to formally start in mid-2001.

Summary objective

ANIMATE will implement a moored observing infrastructure to provide regular observations of ocean carbon cycle variability and processes, from three selected sites in the Northeast Atlantic. Each mooring will carry a near-surface CO2 sensor, upper-layer temperature/salinity sensors, an upward-looking ADCP, a nutrient and fluorescence sensor, and a deeper sediment trap. Part of the data will be telemetered in real-time. The specific sites were chosen to build upon existing European time-series measurements and observational efforts/interests, to be representative of distinct biogeochemical regions of the northeast Atlantic, to lie close to VOS lines to be implemented as part of CAVASSOO for routine surface pCO2 measurements, and to network with non-European elements of the north Atlantic observing system. The chosen locations are: ESTOC near the Canary Islands, PAP (Porcupine Abbyssal Plain) west of Ireland, and CIS (Central Irminger Sea).

The overall objective can be broken into subsidiary goals:

1. Assure a sustained European carbon cycle time-series infrastructure at three key sites in the northeast Atlantic which are networked within a larger-scale ocean carbon observing system.
2. Unify the present mix of uncoordinated European ship-based and moored repeat measurements in the three target areas and upgrade/replace them with identical, CO2-relevant moored systems in all sites.
3. Make maximum usage of existing infrastructure, instrumentation, hardware and expertise from different groups, and share/transfer the existing and new elements of the system for joint implementation and operation.
4. Implement real-time telemetry of subsets of the prime data to be collected.
5. Make both the produced data and the mooring infrastructure available to the wider community.
6. Interface intimately with other programs having the same data or infrastructure requirements.

The ANIMATE consortium includes the following groups:

• Institute of Marine Research at the University of Kiel, Germany: U. Send (coordinator), S. Harms, D.W.R. Wallace
• Southampton Oceanographic Centre, UK: R.S. Lampitt, D.J. Hydes, B. Dupée
• Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Germany: G. Wefer, H.C. Waldmann, V. Ratmeyer
• Instituto Canario de Ciencias Marinas, Gran Canaria, Spain: E. Pérez-Martell, O. Llinás
• Marine Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland: H. Valdimarsson, O.S. Astthorsson, A. Gislason, J. Ólafsson