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the Ship-of-Opportunity Programme, research and merchant vessels equipped with 
thermosalinographs or contact thermometers measure near-surface temperature and salinity. 
Satellite data provide additional information on the distribution of sea surface temperature. 
Also data from routine aircraft surveillance of the German Bight and western Baltic are used 
for interpretation. 
In the monitoring of chemical substances, those results from the BLMP Federal and State 
Government Measuring Programme are used for GOOS which fit into the GOOS concept. 
The BLMP measuring programme also covers Germany’s international commitments within 
the framework of the OSPAR and HELSINKI conventions. At present no additional 
measurement activities are being planned within GOOS module 4, the assessment and 
prediction of the health of the ocean. Therefore, a detailed discussion of the observation and 
analysis methods will not be made here because a detailed description of the methods used is 
given in the BLMP concept. 
Products and services 
Under the marine physical sub-programme outlined above, distribution charts (first on a 
monthly, later possibly on a weekly basis), current time series evaluations of the MARNET 
measurements, and climatological/statistical evaluations of the physical variables will be 
developed. These products will be disseminated by the BSH through the World Wide Web 
(WWW) and integrated into the marine environment reporting system (MURSYS), with 
systematic archiving of the measured data in DOD, the BSH’s German Oceanographic Data 
Centre. 
The results of chemical substances monitoring are needed to assess the quality status of the 
oceans. Their scientific interpretation and evaluation form a basis for political decisions 
concerning measures to protect the marine environment. 
BSH-P2 Climate related monitoring in the North Atlantic Ocean 
Objectives 
The objectives of climate related monitoring in the North Atlantic are: 
(1) to determine transports of heat and substances in the North Atlantic Ocean across the 
transect between the English Channel and the Newfoundland Banks on time scales of 
several years, 
(2) to monitor seasonal changes in the heat content of the surface layer of the northern North 
Atlantic Ocean (also in order to improve the data under (1) above). 
Present scientific knowledge 
The BSH last year’s activities relating to the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) 
have considerably advanced our knowledge of changes in the hydrographic conditions in the 
North Atlantic Ocean. It was found that the Labrador Sea Water (LSW) dominating the mean 
depth level between 1,000 m and 2,000 m, which had been assumed to have a nearly constant 
temperature and salinity, presently is undergoing major changes. It is the most important 
oceanic occurrence of the 90s, characterized by marked cooling proceeding at annual intervals 
(cascades). This signal is spreading from its source area to the European shelf with a speed 
that is three to four times higher than had been assumed. The thermohaline circulation of the