UK_2026_Sir David Attenborough_SD058 Islands Last Call

Two projects will be worked on during the trip to the Falkland Islands: SCOOBIES (Scotia Sea Open Ocean Laboratories) The SCOOBIES P3 open ocean observatory is situated in the northern Scotia Sea to investigate the biological and biogeochemical influence of the largest persistent phytoplankton bloom in the Southern Ocean. Relative to its size, the Southern Ocean sequesters a disproportionate amount of anthropogenic carbon to the deep ocean. The focus of SCOOBIES is to measure the amount of carbon, mediated by biological processes, reaching the deep ocean. This is the end-point to a long chain of events which starts with carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) entering the surface layers and being fixed by photosynthetic plankton. These organisms die or are eaten and some of the carbon they contain eventually sinks into the deeper layers, leading to its removal from the atmosphere. These sustained observations presently provide the only long-term measurements of carbon flux and sequestration in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. P3 is strategically placed relative to the South Georgia bloom, the largest hotspot of primary productivity in the Southern Ocean, and a major region of atmospheric carbon drawdown. The observatory is maintained in association with bioacoustic moorings deployed as part of the Polar Ocean Ecosystem Time-Series (POETS) programme, which supports the major observatory hardware (e.g. weights, recovery buoys, ropes). SCOOBIES augments these moorings with devices that measure parameters relevant to biogeochemical cycles, flux, ocean acidification and microplastic monitoring. It also involves zooplankton sampling in the vicinity of the moorings. Moored instrumentation generates year-round measurements to examine the role of the planktonic food web in biogeochemical processes and vertical flux of carbon, silica and nitrogen, and the influence of environmental variables on these processes, including eddy activity, variability in the location of water masses, upwelling, and changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. SCOOBIES is making decadal scale measurements of environmental variation and responses to that variation, which are of major importance in the functioning of Southern Ocean systems. Many of the datasets have already been used by a number of UK and international science teams, and other stakeholders (UK govt., fisheries management bodies, conservation NGOs). Leading roles in national and international science programmes have been facilitated as a result of undertaking this programme. SCOOBIES is being continued as part of the National Capability Single Centre (NCSS) scheme, with inter-annual 4 day visits to the P3 site to turn around the biophysical mooring (3600 m depth) and carry out in situ environmental measurements (SME_23_2062, SME_23_2064, SME_23_2065). Polar Ocean Ecosystem Time-Series (POETS) Western Core Box (WCB) The archipelago of South Georgia is a large, isolated land and continental shelf area in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. South Georgia has been identified as a key source of regional biodiversity, potentially supporting anomalously high levels of endemic and range-edge species. The biota is generally considered Antarctic in character with organisms typically slow growing, long lived and with deferred sexual maturity. The best possibility to monitor biological response to climate change is probably where many species are highly thermally sensitive and at range edges. The pelagic ecosystem of South Georgia is extremely productive and intense phytoplankton blooms support a rich food web that includes zooplankton, in particular large densities of Antarctic krill, and vertebrate predators (penguins, seals and whales). Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) play a central role in the Southern Ocean food web as effective grazers on phytoplankton as well as a key prey item of a wide range of higher trophic predators. The main deliverable of the WCB is a consistent unique time series of mesoscale distribution and abundance of Antarctic krill and an understanding of the physical environment they are within at South Georgia, South Atlantic (1996 – current). These data are required to understand the long term variability in krill biomass at South Georgia and the influences from climate variability, fishing pressure and predation. The cruise consists of: POETS - WCB survey 1. Acoustic survey during daylight hours using multi-frequency (38, 70, 120 & 200 kHz) Simrad EK60 echosounder. Two transects to be run each day during a four day period. 2. Regular deployments of XBTs (Expendable bathythermographs) along transects during day (or replaced with CTDs, Rapidcast). 3. Deployment of the CTD at minimum of two stations per night during survey. 4. Continuous operation of underway data logging system (bathymetry, location, sea surface temperature, sea currents, etc.). 5. Net sampling (RMT8 and other zooplankton/micronekton nets) at night-time stations plus target fishing during both night and day to ground-truth acoustic data. 6. Acoustic calibration using standard sphere techniques will be undertaken in one of the deep-water harbours on the North coast of South Georgia (Stromness Harbour is the preferred location). 7. Recover WCB mooring. Download data, refurbish and replace batteries. Redeploy mooring. 8. Recover ECB mooring. Download data, refurbish and replace batteries. Redeploy mooring It also accepts CASS (Colaborative Antarctic Science Scheme) and other collaborators not yet identified that may introduce some alternative objectives.