(Note: Please forward this message to any potentially interested persons)

We are writing to inform you of fully funded opportunities for three graduate students to participate at sea on an upcoming CLIVAR Repeat Hydrography cruise in the South Atlantic. Two of the positions will be to assist with the physical oceanography program and one position will be to assist with the Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) tracer program on this cruise.

The cruise is currently scheduled to occur from about 27 August 2011 to 1 October 2011 on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown. The cruise will consist of a long zonal oceanographic transect in the South Atlantic Ocean (WOCE Hydrographic Program designator A10) and will extend along ~30 degrees south from continental shelf of Africa to South America.

The current cruise dates are:
• load ship in Cape Town, South Africa 24-26 August 2011
• depart Cape Town, South Africa 27 August 2011
• occupy A10 Transect along 30S (~36 days at sea)
• arrive Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1 October 2011
• unload Rio de Janeiro 1-2 October 2011
The dates and ports may change during final ship scheduling.

Financial support for student participants is provided through an NSF grant to UCSD/SIO, coordinated by Jim Swift. Graduate student support includes research assistant salary and tuition remission for the time spent at sea, plus cruise-related travel. Foul weather gear can be provided.  Graduate student participants who choose to carry out a small additional at-sea research project in addition to their other duties, and who later work up a poster or talk on this project for presentation at a US scientific meeting, may be able to receive partial support for meeting attendance. This must be negotiated with Jim Swift.

Applicants for the work on the physical oceanography program will work with cruise scientists to carry out the CTD casts, assist with documentation and water sampling, and examine the data.  Applicants for the CFC position will assist with the CFC sampling and analysis program.

Applicants with an interest in the in the physical oceanography of this region or in the application of chemical tracers to physical oceanographic and/or biogeochemical problems are especially encouraged.

Training will be provided on board ship at the start of the cruise. Basic computer skills are required.

The cruise will provide an excellent opportunity to work at sea, and to get to know the oceanography of the South Atlantic. The student positions are open to registered graduate students in good standing at US institutions, but the students need not be US citizens. Graduate students must have approval from their graduate advisors for participation. If there are multiple qualified applicants for these positions, final selection will be made by the U.S. CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Oversight Committee, in consultation with the Chief Scientists and Principal Investigators (PIs).

Dr. Molly Baringer (NOAA-AOML) will be Chief Scientist and Dr. Alison Macdonald (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) will be Co-chief Scientist for this cruise.

This cruise is a US contribution to the World Climate Research Program CLIVAR (Climate Variability) Repeat Hydrography Program and the UNESCO International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project. One may learn more about the international programs at
http://www.clivar.org/carbon_hydro/ and http://www.ioccp.org/.
The US science team also maintains a web site oriented toward the United States' contributions at http://ushydro.ucsd.edu/.

Personnel and logistics details for the A10 cruise, including information on requirements for medical clearance to participate on the cruise, can be found at:  http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/ocd/gcc/A10

Station stops are planned at every 55 kilometers (approximately; closer over submarine ridges and near coasts), where we lower a CTD/rosette to measure the temperature, salinity, oxygen, and currents from just below the sea surface to approximately 10 meters above the ocean bottom.  During each of these stations we also collect up to 24 water samples for measurement of various water properties, including a number of oceanic CO2-related parameters (dissolved organic and inorganic carbon, alkalinity, pH , pCO2), along with dissolved CFCs and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), dissolved oxygen, salinity and nutrients.  While the ship is both underway and stopped we also continuously pump surface seawater through sensors for temperature, salinity, and partial pressure of CO2; we operate standard meteorological sensors; we operate an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler; and we normally collect bathymetric data.  We will also deploy Argo floats along the track as requested by the Argo team.

Please note that rough sea conditions can be expected from time to time. Also, the cruise is fairly long. We thus recommend that students who apply be confident that they can handle such conditions.

Informal email letters of application for the 2 physical oceanographic positions may be sent to Chief Scientist Molly Baringer Molly.Baringer@noaa.gov)
Letters of application for the CFC Tracer position may be sent to
John Bullister (NOAA-PMEL): John.L.Bullister@noaa.gov, who is the PI for the CFC tracer program

The applicant should provide a brief summary of their research interests and experience, indicate whether they are interested in the physical oceanography or CFC tracer positions, and include the e-mail address of their advisor.

Sincerely,
Molly Baringer
Alison Macdonald
John Bullister
(for the U.S. CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Oversight Committee)
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Dr. Molly O'Neil Baringer                   Work:  305-361-4345
NOAA-AOML/PHOD                         
4301 Rickenbacker Csway                Fax:   305-361-4412
Key Biscayne, FL 33149                    email: molly.baringer@noaa.gov
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