The National Science Foundation awarded $16 million in grants to fund a new observation system in the sub-polar region of the North Atlantic Ocean to better understand the ‘global conveyor belt’ – the system of surface ocean currents that carry warmer waters northward, and the deep ocean currents that carry cooler waters southward toward the equator. This initiative is part of the U.S.-led Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (OSNAP). The $16 million will be distributed over the next five years to oceanographers at Duke University, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the University of Miami. The project is in collaboration with international researchers in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

National Science Foundation

This is the OSNAP observation location in the North Atlantic Ocean; 
red arrows show warm water, blue cold. Photo credit: WHOISources: National Science Foundation

Sources: National Science Foundation