Annual report 2005-06.indd - Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems ...

ocean control of carbon dioxideAntarctic Marine Ecosystems Program areexploring these processes through laboratoryexperiments and field studies. The resultswill be incorporated into computer modelsthat will allow us to assess the impact ofglobal change on marine ecosystems in theSouthern Ocean.• To develop simulations of futurescenarios of global and regional oceancarbon cycle dynamics. We will providetools to incorporate data from ACE CRC fieldprograms and other international researchefforts into regional and global assessmentsof potential changes in the ocean carboncycle. These assessments can assistAustralian and other governments in devisingeffective short- and long-term mitigationand adaptation strategies to future climatechange.OverviewThe ACE CRC CO2 Program is providinginformation to address two aspects of societalconcern about the impacts of rising emissions ofCO 2:• To what degree can uptake of CO 2by theocean help keep atmospheric levels of CO 2low?• How will the accumulation of our CO 2emissions in the ocean affect marineecosystems?These questions are global in scope, and cannotbe answered by any single research program,institution, or nation on its own. We have beenboth participants and leaders of long-terminternational programs (World Ocean CirculationExperiment [WOCE], Climate Variability &Predictability Study [CLIVAR], Joint Global OceanFlux Study [JGOFS], Surface Ocean – LowerAtmosphere Study [SOLAS], GEOTRACES andGlobal Ocean Observing System [GOOS]) andmulti-national regional investigations (KEOPS,VERTIGO, SAFE, AMT, l’ASTROLABE). Our workhas received external funding from agencies inEurope, the United States and Asia.ACE CRC research in the CO2 Program hasmade major advances in the understandingand quantification of the role of the SouthernOcean in the control of atmospheric CO 2overthe past three years. We have educated 9 PhDand 3 Honours students in integrated, solutionfocusedcollaborative research of internationalquality. Our program has published more than30 refereed publications and book chapters, andprovided many more presentations to researchand public fora.Our research results are useful both ininternational assessment processes, suchas the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange for the assembly of global outlooks,and for Australian agencies addressing emissionmanagement and policy and planning for climatechange.Key achievements 2005-06• Natural iron input studies: Quantification ofthe natural iron input from deep waters andsediments that fuels elevated phytoplanktonproduction over the Kerguelen plateau in theSouthern Ocean demonstrated that this inputleads to much greater transfer of carbon tothe ocean interior than has been observedin short-term artificial iron fertilisationexperiments (in collaboration with Europeanresearchers, Blain et al., Nature, in review).• Impact of sea ice on atmospheric CO 2exchange: We demonstrated that the longheldassumption that there is negligibleexchange of atmospheric CO 2exchange withsea ice covered oceans is incorrect, indicatingthat climate models must include bothphysical and biological aspects of sea ice gasdynamics to correctly simulate atmosphericcarbon budgets (in collaboration withEuropean researchers; Delille et al., Nature,in review).• Simulation of future ocean acidification as aresult of continued uptake of anthropogenicCO 2: This suggests there will be majorimpacts on carbonate-shell formingorganisms, and that the greatest effectsare likely to occur in Antarctic waters(in collaboration with US, European, andJapanese researchers, Orr et al., Nature,2005).• Ocean acidification monitoring: A program tomonitor the response of marine organisms toocean acidification has been initiated.28 Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems CRC - Annual Report 2005-06