Bering Strait 2021 Mooring Cruise

As part of the Bering Strait project funded by NSF-AON (Arctic Observing Network), in July 2021 a team of US scientists undertook a ~ 11 day cruise in the Bering Strait and southern Chukchi Sea region on the US vessel Norseman II, operated by Support Vessels of Alaska, Inc..
The primary goals of the expedition were:

1) recovery of 6 moorings carrying physical oceanographic (Woodgate & Peralta Ferriz -NSF) and whale acoustic (Stafford) instrumentation. These moorings were deployed in the Bering Strait region in 2019 and 2020 from the Norseman II. The funding for the physical oceanographic components of these moorings comes from NSF-AON.

2) deployment of 3 moorings in the Bering Strait region, carrying physical oceanographic (Woodgate & Peralta-Ferriz) and whale acoustic (Stafford) instrumentation. The funding for the physical oceanographic components of these moorings comes from NSF-AON.

3) collection of trace metal/nutrient water samples using a pumped system at selected CTD casts (Jensen)

4) a set of CTD sections studying water properties in the region (Woodgate & Peralta-Ferriz)

5) collection of accompanying ship's underway data, viz. surface water temperature and salinity, ADCP velocity data and meteorological data (Woodgate & Peralta-Ferriz),

6) deployment of a glider (Statscewich).

The cruise loaded and offloaded gear in Homer, Alaska, and people in Nome, Alaska. As a Covid precaution, the science team quarantined in Fairbanks for 10 days prior to the cruise and transferred to the ship via a private air charter flight

Key Statistics:
- 6 moorings recovered, 3 moorings deployed,
- 276 CTD casts on 14 CTD lines,
- trace metal/nutrient water samples taken on 41 stations,
- 1 glider deployed.

For full details, and preliminary results, see:

2021 Bering Strait Mooring Cruise Report (low resolution)
(also available in high resolution)