Atlantic Meridional Transect

The AMT programme undertakes biological, chemical and physical oceanographic research during the annual return passage of the RRS James Clark Ross between the UK and the Falkland Islands or the RRS Discovery between the UK and Cape Town, a distance of up to 13,500 km. This transect crosses a range of ecosystems from sub-polar to tropical and from euphotic shelf seas and upwelling systems to oligotrophic mid-ocean gyres.The measurements of hydrographic and bio-optical properties, plankton community structure and primary production completed on the first 12 transects (1995-2000) represent the most coherent set of repeated biogeochemical observations over ocean basin scales. In 2002, the programme restarted (2002-2006) and broadened, to address a suite of cross-disciplinary questions concerning ocean plankton ecology and biogeochemistry and their links to atmospheric processes.