Project Title

Southern Ocean Carbon and climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM)

Summary

Event Number:
O-271-N
NSF / OPP Award 1936222

Program Manager:
Dr. Peter Milne

ASC POC/Implementer:
David Rivera / Bruce Felix

Principal Investigator(s)

Dr. Jorge l Sarmiento
jls@princeton.edu
Princeton University
Department of Geosciences
Princeton, New Jersey

Location

Supporting Stations: RV/IB Nathaniel B. Palmer
Research Locations: Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas

Description

The Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project seeks to increase our understanding of the crucial role of the Southern Ocean in taking up anthropogenic carbon and heat from the atmosphere, and resupplying nutrients from the abyss to the surface. An observational component, based on deployment of profiling floats with oxygen, nitrate, pH and bio-optical sensors, is supplying unprecedented amounts of new biogeochemical data that provide a year-round view of the Southern Ocean from the surface to 2000 m, including tracking ocean acidification, de-oxygenation, and warming processes. A modeling effort is applying these observations and enhancing our understanding of the current Southern Ocean, and reducing uncertainty in projections of future carbon and nutrient cycles and climate.

Field Season Overview

One participant will sail on the RV/IB Nathaniel B. Palmer to deploy biogeochemical (BGC) Argo floats, collect water samples from the conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) rosette for validation of the float's BGC sensors, and collect underway surface measurements.

Deploying Team Members