Beschreibung: Cruise AL534/2 is part of a multi-disciplinary research initiative as part of the JPI Oceans project HOTMIC and sought to investigate the origin, transport and fate of plastic debris from estuaries to the oceanic garbage patches. The main focus of the cruise was on the horizontal transfer of plastic debris from major European rivers into shelf regions and on the processes that mediate this transport. Stations were originally chosen to target the outflows of major European rivers along the western Europe coast between Malaga (Spain) and Kiel (Germany), although some modifications were made in response to inclement weather. In total, 16 stations were sampled along the cruise track. The sampling scheme was similar for most stations, and included: 1) a CTD cast to collect water column salinity and temperature profiles, and discrete samples between surface and seafloor, 2) sediment sampling with Van Veen grab and mini-multi corer (mini-MUC), 3) suspended particle and plankton sampling using a towed Bongo net and vertical WP3 net, and 4) surface neusten sampling using a catamaran trawl. At a subset of stations with deep water, suspended particles were collected using in situ pumps deployed on a cable. During transit between stations, surface water samples were collected from the ship’s underway seawater supply, and during calm weather, floating litter was counted by visual survey teams. The samples and data collected on cruise AL534/2 will be used to determine the: (1) abundance of plastic debris in surface waters, as well as the composition of polymer types, originating in major European estuaries and transported through coastal waters, (2) abundance and composition of microplastics (MP) in the water column at different depths from the sea surface to the seafloor including the sediment, (3) abundance and composition of plastic debris in pelagic and benthic organisms (invertebrates), (4) abundance and identity of biofoulers (bacteria, protozoans and metazoans) on the surface of plastic debris from different water depths, (5) identification of chemical compounds (“additives”) in the plastic debris and in water samples.

Beschreibung: The "guest exchange"of methane (CH4) by carbon dioxide (CO2) in naturally occurring gas hydrates is seen as a possibility to concurrently produce CH4 and sequester CO2. Presently, process evaluation is based on CH4-CO2 exchange yields of small-or medium-scale laboratory experiments, mostly neglecting mass and heat transfer processes. This work investigates process efficiencies in two large-scale experiments (210 L sample volume) using fully water-saturated, natural reservoir conditions and a gas hydrate saturation of 50%. After injecting 50 kg of heated CO2 discontinuously (E1) and continuously (E2) and a subsequent soaking period, the reservoir was depressurized discontinuously. It was monitored using electrical resistivity, temperature and pressure sensors, and fluid flow and gas composition measurements. Phase and component inventories were analyzed based on mass and volume balances. The total CH4 production during CO2 injection was only 5% of the initial CH4 inventory. Prior to CO2 breakthrough, the produced CH4 roughly equaled dissolved CH4 in the produced pore water, which balanced the volume of the injected CO2. After CO2 breakthrough, CH4 ratios in the released CO2 quickly dropped to 2.0-0.5 vol %. The total CO2 retention was the highest just before the CO2 breakthrough and higher in E1 where discontinuous injection improved the distribution of injected CO2 and subsequent mixed hydrate formation. The processes were improved by the succession of CO2 injection by controlled degassing at stability limits below that of the pure CH4 hydrate, particularly in experiment E2. Here, a more heterogeneous distribution of liquid CO2 and larger availability of free water led to smaller initial degassing of liquid CO2. This allowed for quick re-formation of mixed gas hydrates and CH4 ratios of 50% in the produced gases. The experiments demonstrate the importance of fluid migration patterns, heat transport, sample inhomogeneity, and secondary gas hydrate formation in water-saturated sediments.