Graham Hosie

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Southern Ocean Continuous Plankton Recorder
Survey
Zooplankton Observing System
Graham Hosie SCAR CPR Action Group
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SO-CPR Survey Purpose

• Map the biodiversity and distribution of
  zooplankton, including euphausiid (krill) life
  stages, in the Southern Ocean.
• Use the sensitivity of plankton to environmental
  change as early warning indicators of the health
  of Southern Ocean.
• Serve as reference on the general status of the
  Southern Ocean for other monitoring programs
• eg CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program C-EMP
• SOOS

CCAMLR Commission for the Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources
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CCAMLR-Ecosystem Monitoring ProgrammeC-EMP

• to detect and record significant changes in
  critical components of the ecosystem, to serve as
  a basis for the conservation of Antarctic marine
  living resources
• to distinguish between changes due to the
  harvesting of commercial species and changes due
  to environmental variability, both physical and
  biological

David Agnew (1997) Antarctic Science 9(2), 235-242
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SO-CPR Survey Partners Contributors

• Australia - AAD - 1991
• Japan - 1999 (TUMSAT - 2003)
• Germany - AWI - 2004
• New Zealand - 2006
• Great Britain - BAS SAHFOS 2005/06
• USA AMLR NOAA - 2008
• Russia AARI 2008
• South American Consortium OLA CAML 2008/09
• France IPEV AusCPR 2008/09?
• SCAR Action Group on CPR Research (CPRAG) 2006

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How the CPR works
Tow Wire
Propeller
Cover Silk
Gear Box
Preservation Tank
Collecting Silk 270µm
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How the CPR works
Tow Wire
Propeller
Cover Silk
Gear Box
Preservation Tank
Water Plankton
Water Exit
Collecting Silk 270µm
Plankton are trapped on the collecting silk as it
passesacross the tunnel
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How the CPR works
Tow Wire
Propeller
Cover Silk
Gear Box
Preservation Tank
Water Plankton
Water Exit
Collecting Silk 270µm
The collecting silk is then covered by another
silk beforerolling into the Preservation Tank
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How the CPR works
Tow Wire
Propeller
Cover Silk
Gear Box
Preservation Tank
Water Plankton
Water Exit
Collecting Silk 270µm
The mechanism is driven by water passing over the
propeller
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How the CPR works
Tow Wire
Propeller
Cover Silk
Gear Box
Preservation Tank
Water Plankton
Water Exit
Collecting Silk 270µm
CPR is towed horizontally at about 10 m depth,
100 m directly behind ship
Regardless of ship speed, silk advances at 1 cm
for every 1 nautical mile
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5m 450 nautical mile tow

• Silks cut to 5 cm segments 5 n miles

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CPR Data Base
Zooplankton Data Spp composition abundance per
5 n mile
Splicing program
GIS Database
Underway Data GPS,T, S, Fluorometer, Light per
1 minute
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Environmental data collected during CPR tows

• Sea-water temperature
• Salinity/conductivity
• Fluorometry
• Light - Photosynthetically Active Radiation
• Solar Radiation
• UV, UVB
• Wind Speed Direction
• Barometric pressure
• Optical Plankton Counter
• Hydroacoustics - 12, 38, 120, 200 khz
• Satellite data - SeaWiFS

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The Survey coversgt70 of the Southern
Ocean October to April
CPR Tows 1991-2008
Approximately40-50 tows each year gt4,000 samples
p.a. 5 n-mile resolution
135,000 nauticalmiles of data havebeen
collected since 1991
This represents morethan 27,000 samples, 200
taxa environmental data
Australia, Japan, NZ, Germany, UK, USA, Russia
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Summary of Tows
CAML 2007-08 25,000 nautical miles
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Oikopleura spp
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Euphausia superba
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Total Abundance
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January 1998 Temperature
1000
12.00
900
10.00
800
8.00
700
600
6.00
Zooplankton per segment
Temperature
500
4.00
400
300
2.00
200
0.00
100
0
-2.00
1
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27
40
53
66
79
92
105
118
131
144
157
170
183
196
209
222
235
248
261
274
287
300
313
326
339
352
365
378
391
404
417
430
443
456
Segment
66 55S 64 44E
49 21S 130 39E
50 S
52 S
54 S
56 S
58 S
60 S
62 S
64 S
66 S
Hobart
Mawson
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Southern ecotone
40ºS
Hobart
50ºS
60ºS
SACCF
Casey
Mawson
Davis
70ºS
80ºE
90ºE
60ºE
70ºE
110ºE
140ºE
100ºE
120ºE
130ºE
150ºE
160ºE
SACCF Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Front
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Cluster 5
Cluster 2
Cluster 4
Cluster 6
Cluster 1
Cluster 3
9 unique species
1unique species
3 unique species
Hobart
Dumont dUrville
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Future Monitoring

• CPR can readily distinguish
• Regional
• Seasonal
• Annual variation in plankton patterns, and
  eventually
• Long term patterns
• The SO-CPR Survey is well positioned to provide
  early detection of any change in the Southern
  Ocean ecosystems
• Distinguish natural patterns from
  environmental/climatic forcing perturbation

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Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions
JARE Plankton Observations
NORPAC Net sampling 110 330µm mesh Since JARE
14 1972
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Sustained Observations
Oceanographic observations by JARE
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Tasks

• summarise knowledge on climate change impacts
  on Southern Ocean ecosystems
• consider research required to establish an SOS
  program to measure rates of change
• identify linkages and collaborations needed
  to implement SOS

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Structure

• Keynote presentations to stimulate discussion
• Scientific workshops to consider themes
• Open forum presentations and discussion
• Contact sos_at_aad.gov.au

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Plankton know more about climate change than we
do! Prof. Robin Pingree SAHFOS Workshop,
Plymouth, May 2008
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