The Southern Ocean

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Facilitating and Enhancing Global Southern Ocean Observations

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Past Event

 

 

The Southern Ocean in the Weddell Sea and off Dronning Maud Land: unique oceanographic conditions shape circumpolar and global processes

A multidisciplinary workshop of the Weddell Sea - Dronning Maud Land (WS-DML) regional working group of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS)

Online Workshop, 20-23 October 2020 (postponed from 28-30 April 2020 due to COVID-19) 

 

Organizers: M. Janout, M. Hoppema (AWI), S. Moreau and L. de Steur (NPI)

 

Background: The Weddell Sea including the ocean off Dronning Maud Land is regionally representative for the high-latitude Southern Ocean due to its pronounced seasonality, circum-polar currents, deep-water formation and multi-year sea-ice cover. In addition, the Weddell Gyre connects water masses at the northern margin of the Southern Ocean (SO) in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) with those shaped by the large ice shelves and sea-ice formation in the southern Weddell Sea. This hydrodynamic regime affects a range of physical, geochemical and biological processes. A smaller proportion of the western Weddell Sea is already experiencing climate-change and related consequences, including the acceleration of mass loss from ice shelves, enhanced ocean warming and freshening, rising air temperatures, and changes in wind patterns. In the eastern part, however, the environment is still relatively stable but it is predicted to experience significant warming, sea-ice melt and ice-shelf loss until the end of the century. The recent re-emergence of the Weddell Polynya in this region, for not entirely understood reasons and with potentially significant impact on regional water masses underscores the importance of observing and understanding this region.

 

The aims of the workshop are to:

  1. provide an overview and actual update of scientific findings, which underline the WS-DML as an important area for multi-disciplinary studies (30 registered oral presentations, 10 three-minute flash presentations (substitute for 'poster' session), and a discussion on initiating a WS-DML special issue. The SOOS community and also the individual researchers would benefit from an improved visibility of our results published in such a special volume.

  2. inform the SOOS WS-DML community about the progress of activities in the area of interest.

  3. present ideas, actions and products for the future including multi-national initiatives and ongoing and future national plans, including a discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on the coming field season, in a plenary session.

 

 

Full announcement is available here. The final program for the workshop is available here.

Data Efforts

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Data sharing is at the heart of SOOS. Our aim is to support the development of systems that maximise the discoverability, access and impact of Southern Ocean observations, no matter who collected them, or when, or why.
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SOOSmap

Explore and download curated and standardised Southern Ocean observational data on an interactive map.
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Metadata

Search the SOOS portal at NASA's Common Metadata Directory (CMR) for worldwide Southern Ocean data.
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DueSouth

Find and share upcoming expeditions to the Southern Ocean with international colleagues.
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Regional Action

Explore Regional Working Groups that coordinate and implemente the observing system in each region.

Field Coordination

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SOOS brings together existing communities and observational efforts to enhance the coordinated collection of observations, through the development of coordination networks and tools. These facilitate collaborative logistics, sharing of resources, alignment of observational priorities, and supporting community effort towards achieving the SOOS mission.
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Enhancing Capabilities

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SOOS enhances our ability to observe the Southern Ocean integrated, multidisciplinary and sustained way, through support of community-driven working groups and task teaks. These efforts focus on development and implementation of technologies, building networks, improvement of observational design, and development of associated methods.
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Working Groups

Explore Capability Working Groups (CWGs), developing and enhancing important Southern Ocean observational capabilities.
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Task Teams

Find Task Teams producing specific products, organising events, or solving a particular observing problem.



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Enhancing observations of the Southern Ocean

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SOOS is an international initiative of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR).  SOOS' mission is facilitating the collection and delivery of essential physical, chemical and biological oceanographic observations from the Southern Ocean, to ensure all stakeolders have access to the data required to address key societal issues, such as sea-level rise, heat, freshwater and nutrient transport, and ecosystem responses to changes in the system.
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5-Year Plan

The SOOS 5-year Implementation Plan defines the actions of the SOOS community for the period 2021-2025.
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Scientific Drivers

The Southern Ocean community has identified 5 scientific challenges that are used to focus our observational priorities.
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Governance

SOOS has a simple governance structure, with close connections to external scientific and coordination bodies.
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Contact Us

The International Project Office (IPO) is the central hub of the SOOS effort, click above for details on how to contact the IPO.

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