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Ancient climate secrets raised from ocean depths
February 04, 2008Scientists aboard the research vessel, Southern Surveyor, return to Hobart today with a collection of coral samples and photographs taken in the Southern Ocean at greater depths than ever before.
Using a remotely operated submersible vehicle the international research team captured images of life found on deep-sea pinnacles and valleys up to three kilometres beneath the Ocean's surface.
During a three-week voyage, scientists from CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship and the US, collaborated to retrieve examples of live and fossilised deep-ocean corals from a depth of 1 650 metres near the Tasman Fracture Zone, south-east of Tasmania.
"These corals are evidence of an extinct coral reef," says the voyage's Chief Scientist, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research's Dr Ron Thresher.
"Our sampling came up with some very old fossil corals of the type we are now seeing live and forming extensive reefs at depths of 800-1300 metres. This suggests that the reef extended much deeper in the past, but how long ago or why it died out, we don't know yet," he says.
The composition of deep-sea corals is used to determine past ocean conditions, such as temperature, salinity and the mixing of surface and deep-water layers, over tens to hundreds of thousands of years.
Dr Thresher says over the coming year the samples will be examined to determine when these newly discovered reefs existed and if their extinction can be related to long-term climate patterns.
The findings will provide ancient climate data that contribute to models of regional and global climate change, based on historical circulation patterns in the Southern Ocean.
He says that at times the submersible vehicle - or Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), on loan from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) - was pushed off course while exploring the extreme depths and, in two cases, had its forward progress stopped altogether. Such movements enabled researchers to identify previously unknown and unexpectedly strong, deep currents.
"The voyage was a success despite some of the roughest conditions ever experienced by the team, particularly in deploying the ABE," Dr Thresher says.
The voyage is part of a collaboration between CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, WHOI in the US, the National Science Foundation in the US, the marine division of the Australian Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and, the Marine National Facility.
Media are invited to discuss the results with Ron Thresher, Jess Adkins (California Institute of Technology) and Dana Yoerger (WHOI) when the Southern Surveyor arrives in Hobart at 10.30 am today at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Castray Esplanade.
CSIRO initiated the National Research Flagships to provide science-based solutions in response to Australia's major research challenges and opportunities. The nine Flagships form multidisciplinary teams with industry and the research community to deliver impact and benefits for Australia.
CSIRO Australia
"These corals are evidence of an extinct coral reef," says the voyage's Chief Scientist, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research's Dr Ron Thresher.
"Our sampling came up with some very old fossil corals of the type we are now seeing live and forming extensive reefs at depths of 800-1300 metres. This suggests that the reef extended much deeper in the past, but how long ago or why it died out, we don't know yet," he says.
The composition of deep-sea corals is used to determine past ocean conditions, such as temperature, salinity and the mixing of surface and deep-water layers, over tens to hundreds of thousands of years.
Dr Thresher says over the coming year the samples will be examined to determine when these newly discovered reefs existed and if their extinction can be related to long-term climate patterns.
The findings will provide ancient climate data that contribute to models of regional and global climate change, based on historical circulation patterns in the Southern Ocean.
He says that at times the submersible vehicle - or Autonomous Benthic Explorer (ABE), on loan from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) - was pushed off course while exploring the extreme depths and, in two cases, had its forward progress stopped altogether. Such movements enabled researchers to identify previously unknown and unexpectedly strong, deep currents.
"The voyage was a success despite some of the roughest conditions ever experienced by the team, particularly in deploying the ABE," Dr Thresher says.
The voyage is part of a collaboration between CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, WHOI in the US, the National Science Foundation in the US, the marine division of the Australian Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and, the Marine National Facility.
Media are invited to discuss the results with Ron Thresher, Jess Adkins (California Institute of Technology) and Dana Yoerger (WHOI) when the Southern Surveyor arrives in Hobart at 10.30 am today at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research - Castray Esplanade.
CSIRO initiated the National Research Flagships to provide science-based solutions in response to Australia's major research challenges and opportunities. The nine Flagships form multidisciplinary teams with industry and the research community to deliver impact and benefits for Australia.
CSIRO Australia
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Voyage to Southern Ocean aims to study air-sea fluxes of greenhouse gases
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NASA co-sponsors ocean voyage to probe climate-relevant gases
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Antarctic expedition provides new insights into the role of the Southern Ocean for global climate
In the Southern Ocean, large quantities of surface-drifting plankton algae are able to significantly reduce the carbon dioxide content of the surface waters, which can affect the global carbon dioxide cycle.
International team establishes unique observatory in Antarctica
A team of scientists representing six international institutions, including Texas A&M University, has succeeded in reaching the summit of Antarctica - also a monumental achievement for ground-based astronomy -- to establish a new astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau.
Resilience concepts poised to aid management of coastal marine ecosystems
The January 2008 issue of BioScience includes a special section entitled "Managing for Resilience in Coastal Marine Ecosystems." The four articles in the section highlight different aspects of attempts to incorporate modern concepts from mathematical ecology into ecosystem-based management of coastal marine areas.
Climate change and life in the Southern Ocean
A ten-week expedition to the Lazarev Sea and the eastern part of the Weddell Sea opens this year's Antarctic research season of the German research vessel Polarstern.
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