Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research

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CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR/Southern Ocean Panel

• Matthew England (co-chair) University of New
  South Wales, Sydney, Australia
• Kevin Speer (co-chair) Florida State University,
  Talahassee, USA
• Yasushi Fukamachi Hokkaido University, Sapporo,
  Japan
• Hugues Goosse Universiteacute Catholique de
  Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
• Niki Gruber ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Christian Haas Alfred-Wegener Institute,
  Bremerhaven, Germany
• Doug Martinson Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory,
  Palisades, USA
• Alberto Naveira Garabato National Oceanography
  Centre, Southampton, UK
• Steve Rintoul CSIRO, Hobart, Australia
• Sabrina Speich University of Bretagne
  Occidentale, Brest, France
• Dave Thompson Colorado State University, Fort
  Collins, USA
• Gareth Marshall British Antarctic Survey,
  Cambridge, UK
• Ex-Officio members
• Eberhard Fahrbach (representing the SCAR/SCOR
  Oceanography Expert group) Alfred-Wegener
  Institute, Bremerhaven, Germanylt/tdgt
• Alex Orsi (representing iAnZone) Texas AM
  University, College Station, USA

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
2
SOOS A Southern Ocean Observing
System CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR/Southern Ocean Panel
The region is vast, remote and logistically
difficult to access and thus is one of the least
sampled regions on Earth Design and
implementation of an observing system that
encompasses physical, biogeochemical and
ecological processes is therefore a formidable
challenge Requires multiple nation and agency
involvement Why? Global overturning
control Global productivity control Key
climate change signals
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
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Global Overturning Cells
After Lumpkin and Speer (2007)
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Observed Changes in the SO
ACC water masses Warming (cooling)
on poleward (equatorward) of ACC
Deviations of Argo potential temperatures
averaged over the neutral-density layer 26.927.7
from the climatological mean (color), mean
dynamic height (black lines from Böning et al.,
2008).
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CLIVAR IMPERATIVES

• Assess the role of eddies with respect to
  transport and mixing, and the eddy saturation
  limit (IPCC AR4 models are not eddy resolving)
• Derive more accurate diagnoses of the freshwater
  and moisture transfers among the coupled
  ocean-ice-atmosphere system, and associated
  feedbacks.
• Broader evaluation of the impact of acidification
  and the ecosystem response
• VITAL to address the gap in estimates of air-sea
  fluxes of heat and moisture, CO2, wind stress,
  and boundary layer parameterization near
  continent.
• ABSOLUTE need to maintain full water column depth
  hydrographic (water sampling) and Argo, and
  extend sampling to the under-ice-covered ocean,
  up to the ice shelf grounding line.

Southern Ocean CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Panel
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Climate Indices - linked to SOOS

• Stratification indices
• At three 35S locations in the South Atlantic,
  South Pacific, and Indian Ocean
• AA peninsula and time-series stations in polar
  basins but significantly distant from the source
  areas ?- Weddell Gyre and Ross Gyre
• Ice indices
• Satellite sea-ice extent thickness on repeat
  tracks
• Grounding line index (InSAR mission)
• Upper Ocean
• Shelf salinity in Ross Sea
• Mixed layer depth, temperature and salinity
• Transport indices
• AA continental slope at 3 locations and northern
  Drake Passage

What are we missing - carbon cycle indices?
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Community White Paper Ocean Obs 09

• Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS)
  Rationale and strategy for sustained observations
  of the Southern Ocean
• Authors
• Steve Rintoul, Kevin Speer, Eileen Hofmann, Mike
  Sparrow, Mike Meredith, Eberhard Fahrbach, Colin
  Summerhayes, Anthony Worby, Matthew England,
  Richard Bellerby, Taco de Bruin, Alberto Naveira
  Garabato, Graham Hosie, Keith Alverson, Sabrina
  Speich, Dan Costa, Julie Hall, Mark Hindell,
  Hyoung Chul Shin, Vladimir Ryabinin, Sergei
  Gladyshev, Kate Stansfield
• Phytoplankton and PP
• Recommendations Fluorescence, fast repetition
  rate fluorometry (FRRF) and pigment analyses are
  needed on a larger suite of underway vessels
  (research, supply and tourist ships). These
  observations should also be made in the upper
  ocean on each of the repeat hydrographic
  transects.
• Zooplankton
• Recommendations Maintain and expand the CPR
  survey, in particular to fill gaps in the Pacific
  sector and in winter
• Ecological monitoring
• Recommendations Maintain existing long-term
  monitoring programs. Assess the benefit of
  enhancing the physical and biogeochemical
  observing system in the vicinity of long-term
  monitoring sites to add value to ecological time
  series.

CWP from https//abstracts.congrex.com/scripts/jme
vent/abstracts/FCXNL-09A02a-1665398-1-soos_cwp_19m
ay09.doc
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SOOS Science and Implementation

• SCAR/SCOR Expert Group on Oceanography
• with CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Panel
• why sustained observations are needed
• what mix of observations/disciplines are required
• what is presently done and possible
• a vision for the future
• Draft document from
• http//www.clivar.org/organization/southern/exper
  tgroup/SOOS.htm
• (Comments and inputs from all the community are
  very much encouraged.)

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
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SOOS Science

• Key Science Challenges
• Role of SO in global heat and freshwater balance
• The stability of the SO overturning circulation
• The stability of the Antarctic ice sheet
• The future of SO carbon uptake
• The future of sea-ice coverage
• Impact of global change on SO ecosystems

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SOOS Implementation

• We are doing it now with
• Global drifter program
• Argo SEaOS (Southern Elephant Seals as
  Oceanographic Samplers)
• Hydrography
• High density XBT lines but now also ADCP etc.
• Satellite altimetry
• Satellite winds
• Satellite SST
• Tide gauges
• Moorings

• What are the big gaps?
• Ecosystem monitoring onto Argo profiling
• (oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence)
• CO2 gas exchange
• Appropriate sustained mooring/transport sites
• Must expand ocean coverage within sea-ice zone
• Must include atmospheric boundary layer within
  sea-ice zone
• Must include ice interaction regions

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What observing systems are already in place?
Argo floats
Sound sources in Weddell Sea
http//argo.ocean.fsu.edu/
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SEaOS
What observing systems are already in place?
Most data in sea-ice zone now comes from animals

• Charrassin et al. (2008)
• 58 seals tagged
• 2 profiles/day
• Mean and max depths 566 and 1998 m
• Distances covered 35-65 km/day

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What observing systems are already in place?
Hydrography 5-7 yr interval
Key for stratification changes and carbon cycle
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What observing systems are already in place?
Underway sampling from ships VOS, XBT Seasonal -
yr interval
Key for linking heat content to evolving forcing
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What observing systems are already in place?
Southern OceanSITES
Key for establishing trends and determining
air-sea fluxes
16
?
What do we want to enhance?
?
Moorings for observing the Lower Cell of
overturning
?
CFC-11 in AABW layer
After Orsi et al. (1999)
Key for linking SAM and ENSO to deep overturning
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Planned ice shelf cavity measurements
Key for freshwater fluxes, ice shelf flow and
melt
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High Latitude Meteorology

• Parameterizations of clouds, waves, ice
• Effects of correct flux boundary conditions on
  storm development
• US CLIVAR working group on high-latitude fluxes
  formed (co-Chairs Bourassa and Gille)

Bourassa (FSU)

• Enhance
• - High wind, sea-ice zone boundary layer
  measurements
• Reanalysis
• AWS, buoys, IMET (Improved METeorology), flux
  reference stations

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Data Strategy

• Critical to ensure both past and future data sets
  are accessible and of known quality given the
  lack of observations from the Sothern Ocean
• Significant efforts made in some physical
  oceanographic data but many biological and
  sea-ice data sets still resides with principal
  investigators
• KRILLBASE
• SCAR (Scientific Committee of
  Antarctic Research) MarBIN (Marine Biodiversity
• Information Network data portal)
• SOOS recommendations
• - Establish a SOOS data portal to provide easy
  access to multi-disciplinary data
• such as SCARs READER (Reference Antarctic Data
  for Environmental Research)
• - Rely on existing data centers where possible
• - Facilitate recovery of biological and
  ecological data and historical sea-ice data
• - Make effective use of National Antarctic Data
  Centres and SCARs Standing
• Committee on Antarctic Data Management

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Conclusions

• What are the sustained observing gaps?
• Ecosystem monitoring and autonomous sampling
  with carbon parameters
• upwelling, boundary, frontal systems
• expand ocean coverage within sea-ice zone
• (e.g., Argo in the Ross Sea)
• include atmospheric boundary layer within
  sea-ice zone
• include ice-shelf and ocean interaction

• What are the technical gaps?
• i.e. that can be filled by analysis and synthesis
  of data
• CO2, C, oxygen flux
• Atmospheric moisture fluxes
• Ocean freshwater/Salinity flux

SOOS Science and Implementation Plan presently
under community review