Researchers from the space agency hope to provide the most detailed research yet on how global warming is devastating the ocean’s ecosystem.
Nasa’s said its first “dedicated oceanographic field campaign” on the earth will study the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of seas around the Arctic and its shifting ice conditions.
As part of their unprecedented research, scientists will study everything from the Arctic Ocean’s properties to the physiology of phytoplankton, the tiny creatures that are known as the base for marine food chain.
Scientists hope their vital research, part of a larger £7 million programme, could pave the way for a better understanding of how the ocean’s chemistry and ecosystems have changed due to climate change.
More than 40 scientists will spend just five weeks at sea as part of the “Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment” mission (Icescape).
Paula Bontempi, Nasa’s ocean biology and biogeochemistry program manager, said the expedition, which will leave from Alaska next week, was the space agency’s first field campaign on the ocean.
“We’re continuing the objective that we have to pioneer scientific discoveries,” she said as she announced the programme on Tuesday.
“We’re trying to understand and protect our home planet.”
The project, funded by Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate, will concentrate on the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska, which scientists say are particularly vulnerable to global warming.
