2024 Nathaniel B. Palmer Transit

This cruise on the US Antarctic Program‘s icebreaker RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer will deploy a total of 10 floats: 

SOCCOM and GO-BGC floats are deployed from ships from many different countries. While most of the cruises have large science parties aboard and are doing regional oceanographic studies, the NBP24-04 cruise is a transit from Lyttleton, New Zealand to Punta Arenas, Chile, with a stop at the Palmer Station on the west Antarctic peninsula. The programs were granted enough shiptime and lots of support from the US Antarctic Program to deploy 10 floats and take measurements that support the floats just before they are deployed. Each of the 10 stations will take about 3 hours. In that sense, SOCCOM and GO-BGC are the science users on the transit cruise. The two scientists aboard will run CTD casts to collect data and water samples, as well as analyze dissolved oxygen and salinity onboard. They will also collect pH, nutrient, HPLC, and POC samples to be analyzed in labs at NASA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

This cruise is actually the reverse track of a cruise in 2022 where SOCCOM also deployed 10 floats, which have since dispersed. The floats have been adopted by schools around the world, who will track their assigned float for years to come. 

Ship: RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer

Cruise dates: April 11-May 6, 2024

Start port: Lyttleton, New Zealand

End port: Punta Arenas, Chile