A GERMAN ship which has launched state-of-the-art climate research equipment midway between Ireland and Nova Scotia in the last few days is due to berth in Cork on Sunday.
The Meteor is due to change many of its 33 crew and equipment after 24 days at sea. Registered in Hamburg, the ship has 21 scientists on board and serves as _ support for the German Research Foundation in Bonn. It is owned by the German Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology.
The current cruise is one of a series of investigations into climate change conducted since the ship left Hamburg 30 months ago. It is examining the oceanic circulation in the Icelandic Basin. Subsurface water masses originating in the Labrador Sea extend eastward towards the middle Atlantic Ridge, a submarine mountain range connecting Iceland with the Azores archipelago.
The equipment launched by the Meteor in the Atlantic includes moored recording current meters and floats, which will drift at mid-depth until next summer. It is believed the Sub-Arctic and Arctic North Atlantic play a dominant "control role" in deep oceanic circulation worldwide, with a major impact on the climate.
Research over the last few years in the North Atlantic has indicated the seas are getting rougher. Oil companies exploring offshore have recorded monstrous waves of the type that normally occur only once in a century. Norway has reported waves as high as 16 metres, and one weather station logged a massive 26.4-metre roller.
Three years ago the EU's environment programme initiated a major research project, entitled Waves and Storms in the North Atlantic (WASA) and involving scientists in eight countries. It has noted that although Atlantic wave heights have increased by a maximum of two centimetres a year, there has been no corresponding increase in storminess within 1,000 kilometres of the European coast. More frequent storms may be contributing to a build-up of swell, according to one British oceanographer on the team.
Before returning home in mid-September, the Aleteor will have conducted scientific expeditions in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and both the North and South Atlantic.
