Southern Ocean photograph

Southern Ocean

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Did you knowDuring winter half of the Southern Ocean is covered in icebergs and ice.
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About Southern Ocean


The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean or the Austral Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica.

Sir David Attenborough polar ship has monster iceberg encounter

Sir David Attenborough polar ship has monster iceberg encounter
Dec 4,2023 8:41 am

... And it is now set to spill beyond the White Continent, into the Southern Ocean...

I can't feel fingertips after rowing in Antarctic seas

I can't feel fingertips after rowing in Antarctic seas
Feb 20,2023 6:41 am

... " Jamie was part of a crew of six who battled 30ft (10m) waves, crippling seasickness, icy cold winds and constant terror in Antarctica s Southern Ocean and Scotia Sea...

In Pictures: Inside the floating polar research laboratory

In Pictures: Inside the floating polar research laboratory
Nov 15,2022 1:01 pm

... " We know that iron fertilizes the Southern Ocean, fuelling primary productivity which is photosynthesising and drawing in carbon dioxide and converting it to carbon - and if that carbon is then pushed down into the ocean it is part of our mechanism for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere...

Antarctica: Southern Ocean floor mapped in greatest ever detail

Antarctica: Southern Ocean floor mapped in greatest ever detail
Jun 8,2022 5:05 am

...Scientists have made the most precise map yet of the mountains, canyons and plains that make up the floor of Antarctica s encircling Southern Ocean...

Southern right whales: Tracking unexpected Southern Ocean migrations

Southern right whales: Tracking unexpected Southern Ocean migrations
Dec 15,2021 4:41 am

...Southern right whales: Tracking unexpected Southern Ocean migrationsThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser...

MH370: Could missing Malaysian Airlines plane finally be found?

MH370: Could missing Malaysian Airlines plane finally be found?
Dec 4,2021 4:49 am

... Consistent evidenceHe said: " Realistically we want to be in the Southern Ocean in the southern summer - which is about now...

'Amazing' blue whale numbers on South Georgia

'Amazing' blue whale numbers on South Georgia
Feb 20,2020 6:03 am

... by the time a ban was introduced in the year 1966, a would have been a sighting somewhere in the Southern Ocean, is extremely rare...

Royal naming for Sir David Attenborough polar ship

Royal naming for Sir David Attenborough polar ship
Feb 16,2020 6:35 am

... The oceans take up a lot of the carbon dioxide and the heat that we generate, but we don t really know how and where it goes, particularly in the Southern Ocean - this big, deep ocean around Antarctica, said Dame Jane Francis, director of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)...

Antarctic krill: Key food source moves south

Feb 16,2020 2:46 am

A keystone prey species in the Southern Ocean is retreating towards the Antarctic because of Climate Change .

Krill are small, shrimp-like creatures that swarm in vast numbers and form a major part of the diets of whales, penguins, seabirds, seals and fish.

Scientists say warming conditions in recent decades have led to the Krill contracting poleward.

If The Shift is maintained, it will have negative ecosystem impacts, they warn.

Already there is some evidence that macaroni penguins and fur seals may be finding it harder to get enough of the Krill to support their populations.

"Our results suggest that over The Past 40 Years , the amount of Krill has, on average, gone down, and also the location of the Krill has contracted to much less of the habitat. That suggests all these other animals that eat Krill will face much more intense competition with each other for this important food resource," Simeon Hill from The British Antarctic Survey told Bbc News .

The study is published.

Krill sit near The Base of a food web that supports some of the biggest animals on The Planet

It focuses on the Scotia Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula - the places where the crustaceans are most abundant.

Scientists have been gathering data in these areas since the 1920s.

Initially, Krill catches were recorded to understand the environmental consequences of commercial whaling, but The Information has continued to be collected through to The Present .

Dr Hill and colleagues say The Change in the distribution and density of the crustaceans is a clear signal that emerges in the data from the late 1980s onwards.

It coincides with a phase change in a climate oscillation known as the Southern Annular Mode.

The SAM essentially describes the dominant pattern of pressure zones in the southern hemisphere outside of the tropics.

The mode's switch in state in the late 80s produced warmer, cloudier, windier weather, and much less sea-ice in those areas where the Krill had tended to congregate.

The larval stage of the crustaceans in particular has been strongly associated with The Presence of a sea-ice habitat.

Predicted changes under way

The team's analysis indicates the centre of Krill distribution has now moved to where more favourable conditions are found, tracking southward towards the Antarctic continent by about 440km, or four degrees of latitude.

"The average size of Krill has lengthened over this period of time as well," said Dr Hill.

"And that's because the population has increasingly become dominated by older and larger animals. This is a result of a decline in The Number of Krill entering the population - what we call juvenile recruitment. "

Margaret Mcbride , from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, has written in the same edition of Nature Climate Change .

She Said models had predicted that Krill would shift southwards in The Future , whereas the new research suggested this contraction was already under way.

"It offers a profoundly adverse, but highly plausible, endgame for Antarctic Krill that has serious implications for both the Southern Ocean food web and sustainable management of fisheries targeting this species," she wrote.

The Krill do not only support marine mammals and seabirds; an international fishery also extracts something on The Order of a quarter of a million tonnes of the crustaceans each year in the Antarctic region.

The Campaign group WWF-UK said the study showed "the need to protect The Waters off the Antarctic Peninsula with an effective network of marine protected areas - placing conservation above fishing interests. "



environment, nature, british antarctic survey, whales, oceans, antarctic, climate change

Source of news: bbc.com

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