Southern Ocean

A unique story exists Down-Under

A lot of distinctive things happen below 40 degrees south latitude: waves rise as high as hilltops, water chills to the lowest ocean temperatures on Earth, penguin communities abound on ice shelves, beaches and clifftops, tiny Antarctic krill draw enormous whales for their annual feast, the elusive colossal squid glides among other magnificent creatures while massive kelp forests shelter a diverse ecosystem of unique marine life, all contributing to carbon sequestration.

The Southern Ocean has many important characteristics and hosting the Deep Ocean carbon sink is one of the most significant. We know the ocean absorbs about 25% of the total amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, keeping it from the atmosphere. This service plays an essential role in moderating the rate of climate change. Therefore, we need to gain a better understanding of the chemistry, biology and flux dynamics of the ocean carbon cycle, and we need to reduce the uncertainty of current model predictions, as they have an impact on policy decisions. We need more data.

Why is the region under-observed?

With little land mass between vast kilometres of water, mounting research expeditions across the Southern Ocean is not feasible. Most current observations of surface CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) within the Surface Ocean CO₂ Atlas (SOCAT) are derived from observations on ships of opportunity (SOO), research vessels or moorings, which do not provide adequate data to fully address the size of the current Southern Ocean carbon sink, being both temporally and spatially sparse.

We need more platforms, new methods, and better technology.

How will TRICUSO help?

TRICUSO will innovate sensor technologies and devise sustainable methods to address the carbon sink status of the Southern Ocean. This requires combined efforts from a diversity of platforms, including Argo floats, Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs), citizen science (cruise ships and racing yachts) and deep observations conducted by GO-SHIP.

By integrating these new data streams from different Research Infrastructures (RIs), specifically ICOS, EMBRC and Euro-Argo, TRICUSO aims to innovate every level of the Southern Ocean Carbon Value Chain and enable the Global Carbon Project (GCP) to address the large scale data to model mismatch.

Where will we go and how will we get there?

Participating racing yachts in the IMOCA Round the World Ocean Race will be fitted with innovative, light-weight sensor systems to take measurements as they journey across the Southern Ocean. Traversing the same route at the same time of year establishes the right condition for trials to not only test the new equipment but also for the methods to integrate this new data stream into a strategic observation platform.

The next event will take place in January 2027 and will depart from Alicante (Spain), stopover in Auckland (NZ) and finish in Amaala in the Red Sea; stay tuned for more stop overs including locations in the Southern Ocean.

Meanwhile, in the region west of the South George Island, the Research Vessel Pharos, operated by partner SAERI, will undertake two expeditions in the autumn of 2026 and 2028 during which time the TRICUSO crew will deploy a wave glider and Argo Floats to test new instruments and sensors (see platforms and technology). The Pharos will also be a platform for water sampling in the South Atlantic.

We will be following the journey of our floats and yachts during their trial runs. Be sure to check back for how you can keep up to speed with them on their exciting Southern Ocean adventure.

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This work was funded by the European Union under grant agreement no. 101188028. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.