Eur-Oceans - Climate changes and marine ecosystems

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Southern Ocean (so)

Remote, under-explored and for most of us out of sight and out of mind.

Yet all the way from the bottom of the world, the Southern Ocean forms a major part of Earth’s climate system.

It flows like a giant, uninterrupted river around the Antarctic continent isolating it from the influence of warmer subtropical waters. Just like the centrepiece in a clockwork mechanism, the Southern Ocean interacts with all the other main ocean basins : the Atlantic, the Indian and the Pacific.

Southern Ocean
(Eugene Murphy)

EUR-OCEANS will work on seven such systems :

These inter-connections have a powerful control on global climate. Some of the strongest expressions of recent global climate change have come from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

The region’s climate changes in tandem with El Niño, can have a knock-on effect and impact all corners of the planet, with consequences for pelagic food webs and fisheries.

The aim of EUR-OCEANS is to coordinate polar researchers in order to understand the effects of climate change and anthropogenic impact on the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

This will be fundamental to developing European policy on marine ecosystems management and conservation of this remote region.

Reference

Hydrographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean