A newly released satellite-based dataset offers scientists a tool for monitoring phytoplankton blooms, which are important indicators of ocean health and climate change.
Dr. Sandy Thomalla
Staff
This book presents a state-of-the-art overview of the role that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean play as integral parts of the Earth System. Several SOCCO staff members contributed to the contents of the book.
Dr. Thomas Ryan-Keogh
Staff
In March this year the Southern Ocean Carbon-Carbon Observatory (SOCCO) research programme based at the CSIR Smart Society, Holistic Climate Change Division released their Phase IV Integrated Science and Innovation Strategy: 2022-2027. More than a decade ago, the important (yet drastically understudied) role of the Southern Ocean in global climate was recognised, which together with South Africa’s comparative geographic advantage made a compelling argument to initiate a South African programme to study the Southern Ocean carbon – climate system.
Dr. Sandy Thomalla
Staff
The recent announcement from the National Geographic on the 8th June 2021 that the Southern Ocean will be recognised as the world’s fifth ocean, alongside the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic, has caused quite a stir amongst scientists who have specialised their research in this unique and mesmerising environment. The reason for this is that they have classified the Southern Ocean as the waters below 60°S.
Dr. Thomas Ryan-Keogh
Staff
In situ observations of open ocean (and in particular the Southern Ocean) turbulent mixing are sparse and remain one of the ‘holy grails’ of Oceanography. Ocean fronts and eddies are hotspots for raised turbulent mixing, however, it is extremely intermittent and thus difficult to observe. The passage of strong atmospheric storms are thought to further enhance mixing at fronts and eddies, which has implications for the vertical exchange of nutrients and thus phytoplankton productivity, however these interactions have rarely been observed.
Dr. Sarah Nicholson
Staff
A SOCCO led research team recently completed the first leg of a unique circumnavigation expedition around Antarctica, ACE (Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition). The team set sail from Cape Town on the 20th December 2016 before arriving in Hobart, Tasmania on the 19th January 2017. This expedition is unique because of the 22 research projects onboard, spanning research topics from plastics in the oceans to the invasion of pests on sub-Antarctic islands
Dr. Thomas Ryan-Keogh
Staff
The Southern Ocean has a powerful influence on Earth’s climate, as it stores more anthropogenic CO2 and heat than any other latitude band on Earth. This massive body of water also plays a pivotal ecosystem role in regulating the supply of nutrients to lower latitudes which supports about 80% of ocean production.
Dr. Sarah Nicholson
Staff
Air-sea exchanges in the Southern Ocean of momentum, heat, freshwater, carbon dioxide, and other gases are not well documented because fluxes are sparsely sampled (see Figure 1) and because high winds, high sea state, and lack of calibration for bulk formulas make them difficult to determine. New developments, both for in situ observing approaches and for data interpretation, offer a possibility for advancing understanding in ways that were not previously possible.
Dr. Seb Swart
Local Collaborator
Eddies — circular currents of water — move deep water nutrients to the surface, but their overall effect on the Southern Ocean and the earth’s changing climate is barely understood. The Southern Ocean also called the Antarctic Ocean or the Austral Ocean, has high species abundance and diversity, making common and highly specialised species thrive.
Dr. Sarah Nicholson
Staff
Abstracts can be submitted via the Conference website until 15 March 2016 . Abstracts must be submitted to one of the OSC sessions
The global oceans are estimated to contribute an impressive 50-85% of the oxygen (O2) present in the earth’s atmosphere. It is often assumed the Amazon and other reputable rainforests are responsible for atmospheric O2, however rainforests only cover 2% of the earth’s total surface area; the oceans cover a remarkable 71%. From the Blue Planet to greenhouse gases, the delicate balance between atmospheric components ultimately controls the earth’s temperature.
PhD Emma Bone. 2019
Former Student
THEY can withstand severe storms, freezing temperatures and waves 10m tall. SA’s intrepid sea robots have since last month been hard at work in the Southern Ocean collecting and relaying data to scientists snug and warm in their offices on land. The sea robots are part of an ambitious year-long experiment that scientists hope will demonstrate the importance of myriad small yet powerful events taking place in this vast and hostile tract of water.
Dr. Sandy Thomalla
Staff
The stormy waters south of the Cape suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and are key to understanding what will happen to our climate as the Earth heats up. The storms are part of the reason the Southern Ocean is one of the most under-researched in the world, although it absorbs almost half of the world’s man-made carbon emissions. Last week, more than 50 researchers returned from a scientific voyage of the waters encircling Antarctica, the first leg of a two-year experiment
In February 2015, Carte Blanche ran a full story on prime time TV covering SOCCO research objectives and how gliders are used in the Southern Ocean to make key observations that assist in answering SOCCOs research questions.
Climate models and decadal data sets predict changes in the Earth’s climate that will influence the effectiveness of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink through adjustments to sea surface temperature, stratification and mixing (Boyd 2002), all of which affect the nutrient and light supply necessary for phytoplankton production (and associated carbon export). The challenge in predicting long term trends in the Southern Ocean carbon cycle lies in our ability to resolve interannual variability and the link between seasonal and intraseasonal dynamics
A continuous current of raging seas, storms and icebergs, albatrosses and killer whales circle Antarctica. Looking into the still mirrored water, protected between ice floes, a stark contrast to the open ocean, you look into a delicate world, the sun penetrating depths we are only beginning to understand. This is one of the last wildernesses on Earth and it holds the keys to understanding our future. This ocean, known as the Southern Ocean, contains the secrets of long-term climate change.
MSc Fiona Preston-Whyte. 2013
Former Student
Table Mountain is wreathed in cloud, with a skirt of fog, and in the distance rolling clouds are moving in from the south. A team of scientists and engineers from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) stand in a large patch of sunlighton the dock at the V&A marina, hurrying to affix an ocean robot to the side of a small vessel with a winch, hauling it from the dock so it hugs the side of the boat.
Dr. Seb Swart
Local Collaborator
South Africa’s ocean gliders are already making unprecedented impact on the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observatory’s (SOCCO) research by providing extended time series of physical and biogeochemical observations in the heart of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales.
Dr. Seb Swart
Local Collaborator
The global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased by more than 40% since pre-industrial values of 270ppm to 387ppm in 2010, mainly through fossil fuel burning and land use changes. Present-day CO2 levels are now higher than at any time in the past 650,000 years. The reason we care about this increase in CO2 is because of concerns over climate change.
Dr. Sandy Thomalla
Staff
This voyage combined the annual transportation of relief and logistics supplies, and the ferrying of the SANAE 53 over-wintering team to South Africa’s Antarctic base, with the Southern Ocean Carbon Climate Observatory (SOCCO) research programme led by the CSIR. According to CSIR ocean systems and climate chief scientist and head of the SOCCO programme, Dr Pedro Monteiro, the voyage was a success and has contributed to building South African leadership in Southern Ocean earth systems science
Dr. Sandy Thomalla
Staff
The reason we care about this increase in CO2 is because of concerns over climate change. CO2 is a greenhouse gas which means that it absorbs outgoing longwave radiation and thus warms the atmosphere. Of the approximately 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) pumped into the atmosphere annually by human activities, less than half stays there, warming the planet through the greenhouse effect. The rest is soaked up by natural processes, more-or-less evenly divided between land and oceans.
Dr. Sandy Thomalla
Staff