In 1985, IOC designed, as part of the scientific activities within the GIPME Programme, an Open Ocean Baseline Study for the Atlantic Ocean. The purpose of this study was to characterize all the major deep water masses of the Atlantic Ocean near to regions of their formation as a baseline for future change and as a means of determining the standing stock for certain contaminants for mass-balance calculations.

The cruises have been international in scope, including participants from North America (USA, Canada), Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Sweden), China, South Korea, India and Australia. Participants are those whom either directly participated in the cruise or received samples collected on their behalf

These oceanographic cruises resulted in a number of publications in the open scientific literature. The scientific investigations undertaken as part of this initiative have gone far beyond the initial objectives and have developed into more thorough biogeochemical investigation of trace metals and other trace substances in the Atlantic; both in the water column and in the atmosphere.

Papers from the first cruise were published in a special issue of Marine Chemistry in 1995 (vol. 49). A second special issue of Marine Chemistry (vol. 61, 1998) contained further papers from the first cruise and papers from the second cruise. A third special issue of Deep-Sea Research II (vol. 46, No. 5) contained papers from the second and third cruises. A current issue of Deep-Sea Research II contains papers from the 1996 South and equatorial Atlantic cruise. A paper describing the hydrographic setting of this cruise was published in the previous Deep-Sea Research II issue (Cutter and Measures, 1999). Other published papers and theses stemming from the IOC-GIPME Baseline Study are also listed in separate categories in this bibliography.

IOC is now facilitating a similar baseline study in the Pacific. NSF has decided to fund this effort which is briefly described below. For further information please contact the web site:

The role that atmospheric transport processes play in delivering reactive trace elements and other materials to the surface ocean is of great significance, but it is not well characterised. For example, it is believed that the flux of the biologically required trace element Fe to the remote ocean is significantly affected by the transport and deposition of mineral aerosols of continental origin. It has been further speculated that the large increases in the transport of eolian material recorded in sediments and ice cores during glacial maxima may, through effects on surface productivity, provide a link between orbitally-induced climatic variations and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Thus, it is extremely important to understand the connections between aerosol transport and biogeochemical processes in the surface ocean. In addition, the atmospheric transport of continentally derived anthropogenic materials to the surface ocean and their incorporation into the oceanic biogeochemical pathways is of increasing public concern. Globally, aerosol deposition to the ocean is estimated to range around 1000 Tg/yr (1 x 10 15 g/yr ). Approximately one third of this is estimated to be deposited in the western N. Pacific between 25-50°N, west of 150°E, primarily from Asian desert dusts. While previous studies in the Atlantic Ocean and Arabian Sea have documented a direct relationship between atmospheric dust deposition and reactive trace element additions to surface waters, little is known about the effect that the Asian dust plume has on the distribution of reactive trace elements in the surface waters of the western N Pacific. The primary objective of the Projcet is to examine the relationships between these inputs and the cycling and transport of a variety of biologically and geochemically significant trace elements (including Al, Fe, As, Sb & Se) on a transect across the central and western N. Pacific.

The secondary objective of this cruise is to co-ordinate and execute the fourth Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s Baseline Contaminant Survey. As with previous expeditions in this series, this cruise will also provide a platform for scientists from the US and other countries to determine the distribution of a variety of trace natural and anthropogenic materials in these same water masses as well as the deep waters of the Western N. Pacific. The results of this work, as in previous cases, will be presented at a special session of an international meeting and the scientific papers will be presented in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.