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We finished the transect from Tasmania to Antarctica last night. This line was first occupied in 1991, on one of the first oceanographic voyages on Aurora Australis. This makes it the longest-running repeated hydrographic section in the Southern Ocean, with the exception of Drake Passage (which is so much shorter it hardly counts). These repeat sections are the primary way we can detect and understand changes throughout the full depth of the oceans. We collected 55 CTD profiles from the sea surface to the sea floor, with the CTD package travelling about 400 km through the water column, and collected more than 1000 water samples for various chemical analyses. Seven net tows were completed to sample zooplankton for evidence of impacts of ocean acidification. The “furfy” (Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer) was deployed at 25 stations to measure phytoplankton in the upper ocean. About 150 expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) were deployed as part of an effort to reduce uncertainties in estimates of how much heat the ocean is storing, and two Argo floats were deployed as a contribution to the global array of profiling floats. Finally, large volumes of water were pumped on board at 20 stations (15 from the surface, 5 from depth) to be filtered for genomics studies. Completing the line is a great achievement and all on board deserve congratulations for getting the work done so well and so efficiently. Now for the second half of the voyage… We are presently steaming east doing camera trawls before moving onto the continental shelf.
REGARDS: Steve, Fred and Penny
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.