In response to the need to better understand the implications of ocean acidification ( described below ), a new research programme has been started up in the UK , of which this cruise is one component . The cruise was carried out by the ‘ Sea Surface ’ consortium of the UK programme ( UKOA ). This booklet contains the initial press release together with a collection of the daily blog posts from the cruise , as they were written at the time ( and so they are written in the present rather than the past tense ).
Press Release – 07 January 2013
To begin 2013 with a big bang , a team of thirty scientists , from eight of the UK ’ s top research laboratories , will be setting out on an oceanographic mission to study the effect of ocean acidification in waters near Antarctica . The five week long research cruise , aboard the Natural Environment Research Council ’ s RRS James Clark Ross , departs on 8 th January for some of the coldest waters on Earth .
The ocean is an integral part of the climate system . By absorbing large amounts of the carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ), mostly produced as result of our use of fossil fuels , the ocean helps to slow the rate and severity of climate change . The global ocean has absorbed more than 30 % of the total CO 2 produced by human activities in the past 200 years . While this can be seen as a benefit , the down side is that as the ocean absorbs more and more CO 2 its chemistry changes and the seawater moves down the pH scale towards acidity . This process is known as ocean acidification .
Cold waters provide best indications
Cold waters naturally hold more CO 2 than warmer waters so the icy Southern Ocean is expected to be especially informative for studying the effects of ocean acidification . Additionally , deepwater upwelling around Antarctica brings water to the surface that already contains very high levels of CO 2 . For these reasons , the waters of the Southern Ocean are likely to provide a unique window into how the marine environment will respond to higher CO 2 levels in the future . This expedition will include a visit to the Weddell Sea , which has some of the coldest surface waters ( -1.8⁰C) anywhere in the world .
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