The hydrographic setting of the second IOC contaminants baseline cruise

The hydrographic setting for the second cruise in the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commissionʹs baseline study of contaminants in the Atlantic Ocean is presented in this paper. The focus of this cruise was the identification of contaminant concentrations in the various components of the North Atlantic Deep Water, and the deep water flowing into the northern part of the North Atlantic from the Arctic Ocean. Temperature, salinity, oxygen, halocarbon and nutrient results are used to describe the water structures at the stations occupied on the cruise. The freon 11 results are used to estimate ages of the deep water flows.