The Southern Ocean Observing System 2021-2025 Science and Implementation Plan

• Main Authors: Louise Newman, Alyce M. Hancock, Eileen Hofmann, Michael J. M. Williams, Sian F. Henley, Sebastien Moreau, Phillippa Bricher, Stephen Ackley, Joana Beja, Jilda A. Caccavo, Steve Diggs, Sarah Fawcett, Peter Fretwell, Sarah Gille, Petra Heil, Laura Herraiz Borreguero, Juan Höfer, Petra ten Hoopen, Stefan Kern, Johnathan Kool, Delphine Lannuzel, Rob Massom, Matt Mazloff, Andrew Meijers, Burcu Ozsoy, Luciano Ponzi Pezzi, Benjamin Pfeil, Marcel du Plessis, Marilyn N. Raphael, Jean-Baptiste Sallee, Oscar Schofield, Irene Schloss, Elizabeth H. Shadwick, Sebastiaan Swart, Esmee van Wijk, Katye Altieri, Andrés Barbosa, Sandra Barreira, Giorgio Budillon, Karen Casciotti, Florence Colleoni, Kim Currie, Markus Frey, Svenja Halfter, Katharine Hendry, Will Hobbs, Markus Janout, Rodrigo Kerr, Piotr Kukliński, Michelle LaRue, Torge Martin, Clive R. McMahon, Carlos R. B. Mendes, Lisa Miller, Patricia Miloslavich, Eugene Murphy, Jun Nishioka, Antonio Novellino, Bastien Y. Queste, Wolfgang Rack, Paola Rivaro, Andreas Schiller, Walker Smith, Craig Stevens, Sarat Tripathy, Zhaomin Wang
• Other Authors: Newman, Louise, Hancock, Alyce M., Hofmann, Eileen, Williams, Michael J. M., Henley, Sian F., Moreau, Sebastien, Bricher, Phillippa, Ackley, Stephen, Beja, Joana, Caccavo, Jilda A., Diggs, Steve, Fawcett, Sarah, Fretwell, Peter, Gille, Sarah, Heil, Petra, Herraiz Borreguero, Laura, Höfer, Juan, ten Hoopen, Petra, Kern, Stefan, Kool, Johnathan, Lannuzel, Delphine, Massom, Rob, Mazloff, Matt, Meijers, Andrew, Ozsoy, Burcu, Ponzi Pezzi, Luciano, Pfeil, Benjamin, du Plessis, Marcel, Raphael, Marilyn N., Sallee, Jean-Baptiste, Schofield, Oscar, Schloss, Irene, Shadwick, Elizabeth H., Swart, Sebastiaan, van Wijk, Esmee, Altieri, Katye, Barbosa, André, Barreira, Sandra, Budillon, Giorgio, Casciotti, Karen, Colleoni, Florence, Currie, Kim, Frey, Marku, Halfter, Svenja, Hendry, Katharine, Hobbs, Will, Janout, Marku, Kerr, Rodrigo, Kukliński, Piotr, Larue, Michelle
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Southern Ocean; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11567/1091977; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6324359

The Southern Ocean plays a central role in the Earth System by connecting the Earth’s ocean basins, and it is a crucial link between the deep ocean, surface ocean and atmosphere. Hence, the ongoing changes in the Southern Ocean impact global climate, rates of sea level rise, biogeochemical cycles and ecological systems. Yet, understanding of the causes and consequences of these changes is limited by the short and incomplete nature of observations. To address this issue, sustained, integrated and multidisciplinary observations are needed. Due to the size of the Southern Ocean, this requires international agreement on the priority observations to be collected, and also internationally coordinated data management and delivery. The Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) was initiated in 2011 to support these efforts. In the last decade, SOOS has enhanced regional coordination and observing system capabilities through network development, data curation and publication, development of data discovery and coordination tools, and providing strong advocacy mechanisms for the Southern Ocean community. Significant data gaps remain in observations of the ice-affected ocean, sea ice habitats, the ocean at depths >2000 m, the air-ocean-ice interface, biogeochemical and biological variables, and for seasons other than summer. This Science and Implementation Plan articulates the scientific priorities for SOOS through the identification of these key gaps in the observational network and by identifying the priorities in addressing these gaps. This Plan covers the five year period 2021-2025, with emphasis on the capabilities required to support data collection and delivery, and the objectives and actions that SOOS will implement. Five Science Themes have been identified, each encompassing a number of Key Science Challenges. These Themes and Challenges incorporate many scientific drivers that are cross-disciplinary, reflecting the highly-interconnected nature of the Southern Ocean, and Theme 5 is cross-cutting and highlights a ...