The Southern Ocean plays a major role in regulating Earth's climate, since it is a major absorber, or "sink" of carbon emissions and heat from the atmosphere. In addition, powerful ocean currents that help transport heat worldwide are powered in part by processes that take place in this area, which surrounds Antarctica. Yet despite its outsized importance in the climate system, we may know more about the surface of Mars than we do about this part of our home planet.
The U.S. is currently taking part in a five-year multimillion dollar research effort to fill in some of the gaps in this climatologically-important region, and this week, and on Monday, scientists got some unusual help from competitors in the risky around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race.
According to a joint press release from the Ocean Race and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is the U.S. agency that studies the atmosphere and ocean environments, all six boats participating in the around-the-world race took time during Leg 5, which takes vessels from Auckland, New Zealand, to Itajai, Brazil, to drop scientific "drifter" buoys that will help scientists collect data. Scientists hope these buoys will add to the currently-sparse real-time data that researchers have about the workings of the Southern Ocean.
The buoys will drift with ocean currents and transmit data they collect to satellites. The drifter data will be publicly available in near real-time via a NOAA website.
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Scientists are working to deploy up to 200 buoys with a variety of capabilities as part of the Southern Ocean research project, which is known as the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project, or SOCCOM.
"The Southern Ocean is poorly sampled compared to other ocean basins because it is so remote from most shipping lanes where observations are collected," said Rick Lumpkin, director of NOAA's Global Drifter Program, in a press release.
"However, it plays a critical climate role in the global conveyor belt circulation and links the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, so it is extremely important to observe currents and temperatures there."
Martin Kramp, who is the ship coordinator with the Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology of the World Meteorological Organization, said ocean endeavors like the Volvo Ocean Race are proving increasingly useful for scientific research. Kramp helped coordinate this partnership between scientists and competitive sailors.
“Organized ocean sailing events, such as races and rallies, are a new component of growing importance in volunteer ocean observation,” Kramp said in a press release." We are very happy that the Volvo Ocean Race is collaborating with us as a part of the current race.”
Will Oxley, the navigator on board Team Alvimedica, is a marine biologist as well as being a competitive offshore sailor. “It’s believed the Southern Ocean absorbs up to about 60% of the heat and carbon dioxide produced by we humans,” Oxley says in a release.