Download The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS)

Observing the Oceans for Science and Society -Climate, Ecosystems, Biodiversity
August 2012
The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS)
Michael P. Meredith1, Oscar Schofield2, Louise Newman3, and the SOOS
Scientific Steering Committee and community
British Antarctic Survey, UK
2
Rutgers University, USA
3
SOOS International Project Office, IMAS, Australia
1
[email protected]
The Southern Ocean is disproportionately important in influencing the Earth system. It connects the major
ocean basins, links the shallow and deep limbs of the overturning circulation, exerts great influence on
global biogeochemical and carbon cycles, and is home to many unique and vulnerable species, some of
which are commercially exploited. The Southern Ocean is changing, with potentially global impacts. These
changes include a warming, freshening, and acidification, with concordant changes in the distribution of
marine organisms. However, data coverage in the Southern Ocean remains the sparsest globally, inhibiting
our ability to detect, interpret and predict such changes.
This need has led to the design and implementation of a Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), sponsored
by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research
(SCOR), and endorsed by the
Partnership for Observation of the
Physical and biological
Sea ice majorly impacts
Home to unique and
processes remove carbon
vulnerable species,
on air-sea fluxes, and is a
Global Oceans (POGO) and the
from the atmosphere and
unique ecological habitat
some of which are
control global climate
commercially exploited
World Climate Research Programme
WIND
(WCRP). It addresses six overarching
ENT
R CURR
A
L
O
P
challenges of high scientific and
RCUM
societal relevance (summarised in
the Figure):
CI
phytoplankton
krill
1. The role of the Southern Ocean
in the planet’s heat and freshwater
balance;
Strong exchange of
Ice shelf/ocean
heat, freshwater,
interaction controls
2. The stability of the Southern Ocean
nutrients, etc.
deglaciation and
with rest of
the contribution
world’s oceans
overturning circulation;
of the ice sheets
to sea level rise
3. The role of the ocean in the
stability of the Antarctic ice sheet
Southern Ocean overturning
shapes the global ocean
and its contribution to sea-level rise;
circulation and climate
4. The future and consequences of
Southern Ocean carbon uptake;
5. The future of Antarctic sea ice
Figure: Schematic of the major scientific and societal drivers that require 6. The impacts of global change on
sustained observations of the Southern Ocean.
Southern Ocean ecosystems.
Sustained observations of the evolving physical, biogeochemical and biological state of the Southern Ocean
are essential to tackle each of these, and the published SOOS Initial Science and Implementation Strategy
(available at www.soos.aq) identifies the key variables to be observed and the combination of platforms needed
to measure them. These include conventional ship-based techniques and repeat hydrography, autonomous
floats and gliders, remote sensing, miniaturised oceanographic sensors on mammals and birds, genomic
approaches, and observations of the abundance and distribution of top predators (fish, penguins, seabirds, seals
and whales). Work is ongoing to refine the optimal sampling strategy for SOOS, complete its implementation,
and refine the 20-year vision such that the future evolution of SOOS can parallel that of the societal drivers and
our observational capability. This work is coordinated by the SOOS International Project Office, hosted by the
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania, Australia.
Improved understanding of Southern Ocean processes and change are required in to order to tackle
many of the most pressing and challenging issues faced by society, including climate change, sea-level
rise, and the response of marine ecosystems to ocean warming, acidification, and human exploitation.
SOOS will provide the sustained observations of the Southern Ocean that are required to achieve this
understanding.