14 Cruise Report, RV ATAIR, Cruise 067I033-1, Bremerhaven – Thybor?n – Aberdeen, 23 Jul – 15 Aug 2024 entrained water from different depth levels being taken as a sample. Salinity samples were always taken from Niskin bottles closed near the bottom and at 5 dbar, see Table 5.2. 5.3 Water Sampling with respect to Salinity Water samples were collected at all stations during cruise 067I033-1 for the purpose of checking the quality of the CTD-derived conductivity and, consequently, salinity. An exception was made at the test station at the start of the cruise. Water samples were taken from Niskin bottles closed at 5 dbar near the surface and at the bottom. The bottles were numbered and rinsed three times with seawater before being filled and sealed airtight. The water samples were analysed using an OSIL AUTOSAL 8400B salinometer, s/n 72273. Analysis of salinometer samples was partly done already during the cruise. For standardisation, IAPSO standard seawater batch P-167 was used. All samples were assigned a BSH sample identification number similar to a Bedford number. 5.4 Water Sampling with respect to Density Water sampling with respect to density analysis was carried out on selected stations. Similarly to salinity, water samples were taken from the Niksin bottles that were closed near the surface at 5 dbar and close to the bottom. Numbered glass bottles were used and rinsed three times with seawater before finally filling the bottle. The sample was made air-tight by closing the bottle with a rubber plug and attaching a metal seal on top. All samples were given a BSH sample identification number similar to Bedford numbers. Back at the home lab, density samples were analysed with a densitymeter of type Mettler Toledo Excellence D6. In total, 38 samples taken from 19 station locations distributed all across the North Sea were analysed for density. Figure 5.2 presents the station locations with density sampling carried out during cruise 067I0331-1. Sampling and analysis is done with respect to building up a density database for the North Sea for the sake of obtaining absolute salinity data, SA. These should be based on density measurements that can be traced back to SI units, a prerequisite when considering the Thermodynamic Equation of Seawater 2010 (TEOS-10).