NAAMES

After mostly favorable weather conditions through the second field campaign of the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES), an extreme weather system on May 30, 2016 provided a unique opportunity for scientists to measure atmospheric phenomena at sea. The high wind speeds and large waves – in some cases up to 30 feet – prevented those aboard the Research Vessel Atlantis (R/V Atlantis) from accessing the deck of the ship. Some instruments on the deck of the R/V Atlantis were damaged, shifted, or lost during the storm. Despite posing hazardous conditions, the storm provided researchers with a unique opportunity to enhance their research by measuring sea-to-air aerosol gas fluxes in a severe weather event. The measurement of sea-to-air aerosol gas fluxes quantifies aerosols as they move from the ocean into the air, and these aerosol gas fluxes can be impacted by environmental disturbances such as a severe weather event. Aerosols play an important role in cloud formation in marine environments. Understanding the forces that form marine aerosols may inform future hypotheses and/or conclusions about the interactions between the ocean and atmosphere.

The NAAMES campaign challenged competing views surrounding the seasonality of the phytoplankton bloom cycle. The data collected from the NAAMES campaign helped characterize the temporal patterns of phytoplankton blooms in the North Atlantic region in the exploration of these competing views. During NAAMES, scientists were able to observe the disturbance recovery hypothesis, when a phytoplankton population accumulated in response to population loss resulting from a severe weather system. Additionally, scientists collected important measurements of sea-to-air aerosol gas fluxes in another severe weather event. NAAMES has led to new research in the application of satellite data in oceanography. The vast and unique dataset of NAAMES continues to be explored and NAAMES-related publications appear rapidly in the scientific community.