3A 
Despite the good overall situation, the data collected during this year's cruise clearly 
reflected the known problem areas of the North Sea. These problem areas still are 
the large river estuaries, the region between the Dogger Bank and the English coast. 
the "old" Elbe valley, and the area off the German/Jutlandic coast. Together with 
stronger primary production, the oceanographic conditions in these areas lead to 
stronger oxygen consumption. However, near-bottom oxygen saturation values 
velow 75 % were not measured in any of the above areas in this year. As former 
laboratory tests have shown, the situation does not become critical for fish and 
bottom-living species until oxygen saturation drops below 40 %. 
In July, the southern half of the North Sea was warmer than the long-term mean 
(Figs. 2a and 4). Contributing factors were the warmer and deeper upper mixed layer 
and the warmer bottom layer. The heat content of water in the area extending north 
of the Dogger Bank to the northern boundary of the North Sea also was above the 
olimatological mean. The mixed upper layer with its thickness between 30 and 40 
metres was up to 2 °C too warm and has definitely stored more heat. Temperatures 
below the clearly defined thermocline were between 7 and 8 °C; temperatures just 
under 7 °C were only measured immediately north of Dogger Bank, above Little 
Fisher Bank, and in a few places in the Norwegian Deep. On the whole, also 
temperatures in the bottom layer were 1 °C to 1.5 °C above the mean values. The 
anomalies are within the range of interannual variability based on long time series in 
the North Sea. The reduced heat transports in the North Atlantic Current observed by 
RV GAUSS in the eastern North Atlantic in this year have not had an impact on the 
North Sea so far. The salinity and temperature increase which had already been 
observed in the Faeroe-Shetland Channel in 2001 was also observed in the Fair-Isle 
Dassage in the summer of 2002, but here mainly in the inflow of Atlantic water east 
of the Shetland Islands (Fig. 2b). A tongue of highly saline water with salinities 
exceeding 35.3 (exactly 35.36) has been observed in the North Sea for the first time 
in several years. On the whole, however, Atlantic water in the northern North Sea 
has only spread to about 58° N. The Baltic outflow and Norwegian Coastal Current 
showed the usual pattern. 
The inflow of Atlantic water through the English Channel seems to be low, as in the 
oreceding year. We did not measure salinities over 35 in that area. 
Nutrients showed the low concentrations in the upper mixed layer which are typical of 
the summer season, with higher values observed only off the estuaries (Figs. 2d and 
5a-d). 
Increasing transports of Atlantic water into the North Sea are expected to cause 
changes in the ecological situation and a faster renewal of North Sea water. 
The data from this cruise are presently being processed and evaluated.