User:Louise Newman/Southern Ocean Observing System

The Southern Ocean Observing System (www.soos.aq)

The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) is an international initiative to coordinate and expand the efforts of all nations that gather data from the Southern Ocean, with the specific aim of developing a coherent and efficient observing system that will deliver the observations required to address key scientific and societal challenges.

The Southern Ocean influences climate, sea level, biogeochemical cycles and biological productivity on a global scale. Many of the most difficult and pressing issues faced by society—how to mitigate and adapt to climate change and sea-level rise, how to manage the effects of ocean acidification, and how best to conserver marine resources and biodiversity—cannot be addressed effectively without improved understanding of Southern Ocean processes and feedbacks and their sensitivity to change. The most urgent research challenges in the Southern Ocean often span traditionally separate scientific disciplines. The SOOS will facilitate and enhance current observation efforts to provide the sustained, integrated, multi-disciplinary observations required to meet these challenges.

Scientific Rationale The Southern Ocean is fundamental to the operation of Planet Earth as we know it. It is the central connection between the major ocean basins, and between the upper and lower layers of the global ocean circulation. It exerts a major influence on global climate, and on planetary-scale biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems (see e.g., Rintoul et al. 2001, Sarmiento et al., 2004; le Quere et al., 2007; Meredith et al., 2012). The Southern Ocean is changing rapidly, with profound global ramifications. These changes include a large-scale warming that exceeds the global average, including several “hotspots” of extreme regional warming (Böning et al, 2008; Gille, 2008). Both upper and lower limbs of the Southern Ocean overturning have freshened, due to changes in the hydrological cycle and ice melt (Böning et al, 2008). The rate at which the Southern Ocean can draw down anthropogenic carbon from the atmosphere has likely weakened (Meredith et al. 2012), though acidification is already underway with strong implications for marine species and populations (Rintoul et al., 2012). The climatic changes are already impacting on the functioning of the Southern Ocean ecosystems (Schofield et al., 2010), with implications for some commercially important species. The critical need to observe and understand the Southern Ocean is thus well established, however the harsh conditions and remote location has led to it being the most under-sampled region of the world. Sustained, multidisciplinary observations are required to detect, interpret and respond to the physical, chemical and biological changes occurring.

More information on the scientific rationale and implementation strategy of the SOOS can be found in the, which is available for download from the SOOS website (www.soos.aq)

Sponsors The SOOS is an initiative of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR). The SOOS is endorsed by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), the "Climate Variability" (CLIVAR) project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and "Climate and the Cryosphere" (CliC).

The SOOS International Project Office is hosted by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Additional support is provided by the Australian Antarctic Division.