Observing Antarctic Bottom Water in the Southern Ocean
By Silvano A, Purkey S, Gordon AL, Castagno P, Stewart AL, Rintoul SR, Foppert A, Gunn KL, Herraiz-Borreguero L, Aoki S, Nakayama Y, Naveira Garabato AC, Spingys C, Akhoudas CH, Sallée J-B, de Lavergne C, Abrahamsen EP, Meijers AJS, Meredith MP, Zhou S, Tamura T, Yamazaki K, Ohshima KI, Falco P, Budillon G, Hattermann T, Janout MA, Llanillo P, Bowen MM, Darelius E, Østerhus S, Nicholls KW, Stevens C, Fernandez D, Cimoli L, Jacobs SS, Morrison AK, Hogg AM, Haumann FA, Mashayek A, Wang Z, Kerr R, Williams GD and Lee WS.
Frontiers in Marine Science, open access. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1221701
A number of OCEAN:ICE project members, led by Dr Alessandro Silvano from the University of Southampton, co-authored a review article on observing Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) in the Southern Ocean.
The lead author Alessandro Silvano explains the key purpose of the review article:
''Here we review how to observe Antarctic Bottom Water: the densest, coldest and deepest water mass in the ocean. It originates near Antarctica and spreads throughout the global ocean abyss. Antarctic Bottom Water “traps” vast amounts of carbon away from the atmosphere for centuries, thus regulating Earth’s climate on long time scales. In this article we highlight key outstanding scientific questions related to Antarctic Bottom Water. We propose a coordinated observing system capable of answering those questions, exploiting new technologies such as underwater robots and satellite sensors as well as Artificial Intelligence. An international and sustained effort is needed to understand Antarctic Bottom Water if we aim to reliably predict and adapt to global warming over the next decades and centuries.''
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