History of the Site:

Having performed daily oceanographic measurements in the deep Norwegian Sea since 1 October 1948, Ocean Weather Ship Station (OWS) Mike, at 66N, 2E, can present the longest existing homogeneous time series from the deep ocean. Station M is operating above the eastern margin of the Norwegian Sea deep basin where a branch of the Atlantic current is entering the area. The location proved to be strategic both for studying the Atlantic inflow and the Norwegian Sea Deep Water. The OWS M is operated by The Norwegian Meteorological Institute (DNMI) and the hydrographic programme is carried out by Geophysical Institute, the University of Bergen.

Parameters measured:

Parameter	Depths measured (m)	Sensor(s) used

Temperature	10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000	CTD
Salinity	10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000	CTD
Chl-a	10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000	water bottle samples
Nitrate	10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000	water bottle samples
PAR	-
Dissolved Carbon Dioxide	-
POC	-
Sea pressure	-
Dissolved Oxygen	50, 75, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2000, 2200
Wave Height	surface
Current Profile	surface
Turbidity	surface

Enhancement/Modifications planned within EuroSITES:

Continuation: Weekly sampling from the Weather ship “Polarfront” for water column physics and nutrients. Maintenance of existing delivery schedule of real time data on continuous surface hydrography and dissolved oxygen data.
Enhancement: mooring to measure physics, nitrate and fluorescence.
EuroSITES funds have already supported the development, testing and deployment of a sub-surface mooring equipped with physical measurement sensors (temperature and conductivity) to 2000 m and oxygen optodes at 50 and 2000m. In addition, a new winch has been mounted to Ocean Weather Station Mike and a new CTD system will soon be installed.

Contacts:

Principal Investigator: Svein Østerhus. Nordic WOCE Project Office, Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Allégt. 70, N-5007 Bergen, Norway E-mail: svein.osterhus@gfi.uib.no
Data managers: Ingunn Skjelvan (BCCR), Fransisco Rey (IMR)

Links to related websites:

http://www.fou.uib.no/fd/1997/f/406001/
High Wind Air-Sea Exchanges a UK-SOLAS project http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/ooc/CRUISES/HiWASE

EuroSITES is a FP7 Collaborative Project coordinated by the
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK

Call FP7-ENV-2007-1, grant agreement N° 202955
Sub-Activity 6.4.1. Earth Observation; Monitoring the ocean interior, seafloor, and subseafloor