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The RRS Sir David Attenborough in the Antarctic. Credit: Carson McAfee (BAS) UEA's PICCOLO cruise blog
Led by UEA's Prof Karen Heywood, a team of scientists embarked on an expedition to the Antarctic to investigate how carbon dioxide moves and transforms in the Southern Ocean.
Read about the team's journey.
Over the course of the 52 day PICCOLO cruise (Processes Influencing Carbon Cycling: Observations of the Lower limb of the Antarctic Overturning), they highlighted life aboard the ship, the challenges and joys of working in such an extreme environment and, most importantly, the impactful research being undertaken.
The project was part of the NERC (Natural Environment Research Council)-funded RoSES (Role of the Southern Ocean in the Earth System) programme, and led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), alongside the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) (which operates the RRS Sir David Attenborough), the University of Plymouth, the University of Leeds, and the University of St Andrews. Their findings will be used to inform decisions on international climate change policy.
The scientists on board hoped to learn more about the biological, chemical and physical processes that draw carbon deep into the Southern Ocean.
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The seawater at the surface near Antarctica interacts with the atmosphere, absorbing carbon and losing heat. The carbon in this water is then altered by the miniature ocean plants and plankton, before descending to the ocean depths, carrying the carbon with it. By understanding more about this process, the researchers can improve models that make predictions about our future climate. They made use of the latest technologies, such as ocean gliders and floats, to observe these processes in places that were previously inaccessible and unstudied, like under the sea ice.
The team also drilled holes in the sea ice to collect samples, and tagged seals with instruments which continuously collect data about the ocean as they dive up and down through the water. The data is sent back to scientists in real-time via satellite communication.
The observations and data from this project were fed into earth system models, to help make more accurate climate predictions.
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