Plattform Platform	Reise-Nr. Cruise-No.	Zeitraum Period	Projekt Project	Arbeitsgebiet Working area
Meteor	M87-3B	12.06.2012 - 25.06.2012		Baltic Sea

Fahrtleiter Chief Scientist	Institut Institute	Auslaufhafen Port of departure	Einlaufhafen Port of return	Stationskarte Station map	Schiffsroute Trackchart
Jurgens Klaus	Leibniz-Institut fur Ostseeforschung, Warnemunde	Rostock	Rostock

Ziel der Reise / Objectives of Cruise:

The Baltic Sea with its natural gradients and strong reactions to climate change and anthropogenic activity can be used in an ideal way to examine basic ecological processes and their variability in marine ecosystems. The most striking characteristics of the Baltic Sea are the extended gradients in primary (topography, energy, salinity) and secondary (organisms, matter flux, oxygen, nutrients, sediments) environmental properties as a result of different dynamical processes. Whereas leg M87/3a focussed on the role of the salinity gradients on degradation of terrestrial dissolved organic matter (tDOC), microbially mediated processes, and on the structure and function of pelagic microbial communities, leg M87b investigates the impact of the vertical oxygen gradients in the central Baltic Sea basins on these processes. This comprises the following aims: (1) Assessment of the physical structure and mixing processes within the oxic-anoxic transition zones and of the resulting impact on microbial activities and biogeochemical processes; (2) Characterisation of benthic and pelagic microbial communities along the transition from oxic to anoxic and sulfidic conditions, including protists, prokaryotes and viruses; (3) Analysis of the bottom topography and biogeochemical sediment properties along the deep basins. The overall aim of these studies is to gain insights into the physical-biological coupling and its effects on biogeochemical cycles within the vertical oxygen gradients of the water column as well as a comprehensive understanding of the structure and biogeochemistry of the deep, anoxic basins of the central Baltic Sea. For this purpose, high-resolution sampling of the oxic-anoxic transition zones, assessment of the physical structure and turbulence of the water column, Parasound subbottom profiling and high resolution multi-beam echosounding, and sediment sampling were performed mainly within the Gotland and Landsort basins, along transects from the center to the edges.

Messungen / Measurements

Verankerungen / Moorings