Extended Ellett Line programme - National Oceanography Centre
Original (non-English) name
Acronym
ELLETT - NOC
Citation
González-Pola C, Fratantoni P, Larsen KMH, Holliday NP, Dye S, Mork KA, Beszczynska-Möller A, Valdimarsson H, Trofimov A, Parner H, Klein H, Cisewski B, Fontán A, Lyons K, Kolodziejczyk N, Graña R, Linders J, Wodzinowski T, Goszczko I and Cusack C (2019) The ICES Working Group on Oceanic Hydrography: A Bridge From In-situ Sampling to the Remote Autonomous Observation Era. Front. Mar. Sci. 6:103.
Abstract
The Extended Ellett Line is a project to measure and understand the ocean west of the UK. We are looking at how and why the currents, temperature and salinity have changed over the past few decades. We also investigate the impact those changes have on ecosystems and local climate.
Map of the Extended Ellett LineMap of the Extended Ellett Line
Each year UK marine scientists cross the deep ocean between Scotland and Iceland on a research ship. Along the way the scientists measure the velocity, temperature and salinity of the ocean; at points 30 km apart, the ship stops and instruments are lowered though the water all the way to the seafloor. Water samples are also collected and analysed for a range of chemicals (including iron, nutrients and carbon) and biological content (including phytoplankton). The project is one of a small number of high-quality, long-term marine data sets in the North Atlantic Ocean and helps us to understand changes in ocean climate. It is relevant to the UK and northwest Europe because the warm water flowing past the Extended Ellett Line keeps winters warmer than expected for this latitude.
The history of the Extended Ellett Line began in 1948, when Jack R. Lumby of the Fisheries Laboratory in Lowestoft, UK, realised that use could be made of the regular passage of ships to the Ocean Weather Stations of the North Atlantic. These ships of opportunity collected underway measurements of sea surface temperature and salinity until 1996. From 1975 to 1996, scientists concentrated on the Rockall Trough, measuring the warm salty subtropical water flowing northwards west of the UK and Ireland. Since 1996 the annual expeditions travel as far Iceland in order to measure all the warm water that flows into the Nordics Seas from the eastern North Atlantic. We also measure cold northern water flowing southwards at the bottom of the sea.