Working group on augmentation of SOCCOM

ICESOCC Thursday Sept 24(Dunbar, Carranza, Gille, Lee,

Manizza, Mazloff,Resplanely, Talley)

SOCCOM augmentation

• Augmenting SOCCOM• Thinking beyond SOCCOM• Leveraging SOCCOM

• Consider:– Field program– SOSE with biogeochemistry– SOCCOM climate modeling with carbon cycle and

biogeochemistry and SOMIP

SOCCOM augmentation

• Augmenting SOCCOM (adding to funded SOCCOM)• Thinking beyond SOCCOM: enhancing future float

programs, state estimation, modeling • Leveraging SOCCOM (process and regional

experiments)

• Consider:– Field program– SOSE with biogeochemistry– SOCCOM climate modeling with carbon cycle and

biogeochemistry and SOMIP

SOCCOM augmentationSome science framework/topics that came up in discussion

• What is NASA’s greatest interest? Relationship of in situ measurements to satellite observations?

• Which regions have the strongest controls on the carbon cycle?

• Why is carbon storage so high in the SW Atlantic?• Glaciers melting fastest in Amundsen-Bellingshausen, possibly now eastern Ross –

focus on this region; satellite observations poor• Relation of meltwater to carbon – meltwater from continental ice is highly

correlated with coastal productivity – not known if its iron or other nutrients, or something else.

• Very coastal polynyas – more action where continental shelf is wide • Pacific is iron limited, not much action for carbon except coastally (importantly)• Winter mixed layers have very different structure regionally – e.g. study region

with very stratified spring conditions that are conducive to large, early blooms• Strong regionality in blooms, both within coastal, sea-ice, and open water regimes• Is Fe coming from dust deposition or sediments? (regional distinctions?)• Coastal regions for AABW formation:

– Look for regions where oxygen is high at 300 m– AABW and BGC cycle where sea ice forcing is high?

Augmenting SOCCOM• Field program

– SOCCOM floats provide rapid temporal sampling (5 to 10 days) with very sparse geographic sampling

– Limitations of SOCCOM floats - estimates rather than direct measurements of:• complete carbon cycle• air-sea gas fluxes• Upper ocean microphysics• Upper ocean turbulence

– SOCCOM itself is relatively set in scope and it will be difficult to add instruments to the floats. 6 total channels on the floats, 5 are already used, only 1 available.

– Concerns on part of NSF program manager about adding instrumentation that reduces float lifetime and increases complexity of program

– Deployment cruises of opportunity are very likely also useful for ICESOCC, or for additional programs, international collaborations, and or would be ICESOCC cruises.

Augmenting SOCCOM

• SOSE augmentation– All data are welcome, either as constraints, controls, or

verification– SOSE is intended to provide a multi-year “mean” state,

because of limitations due to years of sampling, rather than providing interannual/decadal information.

– SOSE provides some information on air-sea transfer: currently demonstrated with heat fluxes, expectation that it will provide valuable information on gas fluxes

– (Others should fill in dots on this part of discussion)

Augmenting SOCCOM

• SOCCOM modeling– Very little discussion, but ICESOCC might want to

look at the GFDL coupled climate biogeochemical modeling (global), SOMIP

– ICESOCC might want to consider

Thinking beyond SOCCOM • Field program – instrumentation

– SOCCOM instrumentations has limited ability to capture full carbon cycle and Cant.

– Move as quickly towards other sensors in order to capture full carbon cycle as accurately as possible. • DIC• Alkalinity • Sea ice properties – thickness, minerals

– Alkalinity sensor – start with gliders– Moorings – there have been many, many successful moored experiments– Insonification. Would greatly benefit any under-ice programs that

ICESOCC develops (e.g. gliders, powered gliders), and would be very useful to SOCCOM. Perhaps consider Ross/Amundsen/Bellingshausen insonification?

– Process studies should always include study of the sea ice itself – its thickness, salinity, minerals, nutrients

Thinking beyond SOCCOM

• Field program – NASA interests - satellites• Future NASA salinity mission: will it be possible to

reduce error in cold water regions so that the satellite data become useful?

• Ice satellites are essential for Southern Ocean work – pretty obvious statement, someone should amplify what needs to be said about these missions.

Leveraging SOCCOM• Field program

– Vigorous discussion of how SOCCOM provides large-scale, coarse, circumpolar context that will be useful scaffolding for intensive regional process experiments, such as those that ICESOCC is envisioning.

– SOCCOM measurements per se will not provide full carbon cycle directly, only indirectly

– Discussion of regions that would be useful ICESOCC foci (continuation of discussions in other working groups on previous days)• Practicalities – sea ice regions easily accessible to longer term

NASA/US would be Ross Sea through Antarctic Peninsula• Criteria for selection:

– relevance to carbon uptake and transport,– contrasting regimes (i.e. more and less light limitation, more and less Fe

fertilization, diatoms vs. dinoflagellates)– Regions that are climatically important – where sea ice is increasing and

where it is decreasing. (Overall expect sea ice to decrease over many decades)

Leveraging SOCCOM• Field program– Stressed necessity for 4-season process cruises from ice

breakers to study all aspects of the system– Locations for process expts that were discussed in our hour• Drake Passage, Ono Basin• LTER/AMLR regions• Ross Sea off shelf break (pCO2) (Dunbar, Ackley,

Schofield)• James Ross Islands area (gliders going in now)• Regions outside sea-ice

– F. Plateau (Malvinas/Brazil confluence)– Kerguelen– Hobart – McMurdo transit establish as long-term repeat

section (mode water, rich eddy region)

Leveraging SOCCOM• International collaborations

– SOCCOM has a foreign collaborations committee with a foreign advisory committee, which originated from organization of the many

– All of the countries and cruises that were listed here are on the SOCCOM list.

– We can easily share this list (just sent to Greg this morning)

Beyond and leveraging SOCCOM• SOOS under-ice workshop had many ideas

about how to measure long-term under ice, with autonomous/moored instruments

• Our working group also wants to stress the importance of dedicated cruises throughout the seasons (but did not specify where – lots of ideas)