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A fleet of next-generation deep-diving ocean robots will be deployed in the Southern Ocean in a major study on how marine life acts as a handbrake on global warming.
The automated probes will look for “sea snow,” which is the name given to the rain of dead algae and carbon-rich organic particles sinking from the upper waters to the deep ocean.
Setting sail from Hobart on Friday, twenty researchers aboard CSIRO’s RV Investigator hope to capture the most detailed picture of how marine life in the Southern Ocean captures and stores carbon from the atmosphere.
Voyage Chief Scientist, Professor Philip Boyd, of AAPP and IMAS, said it would be the first voyage of its kind to combine observations aboard ships, deep diving robots, automated ocean gliders and satellite measurements.
“Microscopic algae in the ocean are as responsible for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as are the forests on earth,” said prof. Boyd.
“When they die, these tiny carbon-rich particles slowly fall to the ocean floor like a snow globe scene.”
“We are excited about how this combination of new imaging sensors will allow us to get a larger and much clearer picture of how ocean life helps store carbon.”
“It’s kind of like an astronomer who was only able to study one star at a time and suddenly was able to see the galaxy in three dimensions.”
Professor Boyd said the research will improve our understanding of a process that scientists call the ‘carbon pump’, so called because it is responsible for pumping large volumes of carbon from the atmosphere into the ocean.
“We’re just starting to understand how the biological carbon pump works, but we know it helps remove about a quarter of all the carbon dioxide that humans emit by burning fossil fuels.”
“During the voyage, we will deploy a fleet of robotic floats and deep dive gliders that use novel biooptical sensors to” photograph “the density of algae at different depths.”
“When they return to the surface of the ocean, these floats will immediately transmit their data to us via satellite.”
“This is a major step forward in our ability to measure carbon uptake by marine life,” said prof. Boyd.
The departure of the SOLACE (Large Area Carbon Export) voyage in the Southern Ocean is scheduled for Friday 4 December.
The project includes contributions from CSIRO, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) of the University of Tasmania, the National University of Australia (ANU), Curtin University and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership (AAPP).
This research is supported by a time at sea grant on RV Investigator from the CSIRO Marine National Facility.
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