The Project

A team of scientists from Oregon State University is going to sea in the waters off southern California and Mexico. The principal investigators for the cruise are Dr. Marta Torres and Dr. Bob Collier, chemical oceanographers. They study the chemicals and solid material in the ocean water and in the sediment--the muddy bottom of the ocean floor. Some of the solid materials (particles) settling down through the water look a bit like snow, so that’s why the scientists like to say they are studying “snow in the waters off Mexico.”

The research vessel (R/V) New Horizon will depart from San Diego, California on December 3, 2004. The ship is scheduled to return to San Diego nine days later, on December 12. The ship will proceed south from San Diego to the San Clemente Basin, offshore of Tijuana, Mexico. The scientists and crew will work in an area of the Pacific Ocean between 31N latitude 117 degrees West longitude and 33 degrees North latitude and 119 West longitude.

• Marine Snow
• Research question
• Research methods

This special report was made possible by NSF Award No. OCE-0221160 to Marta Torres and Robert Collier, COAS, to study the "effect of cold seepage on Ba and Ra fluxes and on
chemical signatures of barite in the San Clemente basin."