The Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM), jointly with the Eurofleets+ project, is offering complementary participation to 2-3 postgraduate (MSc or PhD) marine sciences students on the upcoming research cruise TAlPro2022 hailing from Malta, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria.
The cruise will take place in summer 2022 (most likely in July), in the Western Mediterranean, on board the new Belgian Research Vessel Belgica II. The travel expenses of the successful candidates will be covered by CIESM. The food and accommodation on board will be covered by the Eurofleets+ project.
The Mediterranean ocean observing community is committed to making regular surveys of the Mediterranean, and has developed the Mediterranean component of the global GO-SHIP programme on a number of hydrographic sections. Comprehensive physical and biogeochemical variables following the GO-SHIP guidelines should be measured to the highest international standards on a regular basis.
The TAlPro2022 cruise consists of 2 north-south sections in the eastern western Mediterranean and is a repetition of a similar cruise carried out in 2016 (TAlPro2016).
The parameters that will be measured are:
- Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC),
- Total Alkalinity (TA),
- pH,
- CTD pressure,
- temperature,
- salinity,
- CTD oxygen,
- Bottle salinity,
- Nutrients,
- Dissolved Oxygen,
- CFC-12 and SF6,
- Surface Underway system (T, S, pCO2),
- ADCP shipboard,
- ADCP lowered,
- Underway navigation and bathymetry,
- Meteorological data,
- C-14,
- Dissolved Organic Carbon,
- Radionuclides (I-129, U-236),
- Mooring data,
- Zooplankton/particles.
The students will have the opportunity to participate to the acquisition of CTD data, postprocessing of CTD data, acquisition of ADCP data and their postprocessing, in sample collection from the rosette, sample treatment and conservation and in general to expand their knowledge in marine science.
The full cruise and application details are available online. Applications by interested students should be sent directly to: Dr Katrin Schroeder, Chair of CIESM Committee on Physics & Climate of the Ocean.
The application deadline is 15 June 2021.
Malta’s national CIESM focal point is Ocean Ambassador Prof. Alan Deidun, resident academic at the Department of Geosciences, who has been asked by CIESM to publicise this latest research collaboration opportunity.
Further information about the various marine science initiatives spearheaded within the Mediterranean by CIESM, which traces its origins way back to 1908 and which is chaired by CIESM President Prince Albert II of Monaco, can be gleaned through the CIESM website.