Australian, American and New Zealand scientists collected vast amounts of information on clouds, aerosols and precipitation across the Southern Ocean in the 2017–18 summer, using ships, aircraft and satellites (see Australian Antarctic Magazine 33; 8-9, 2018).

Now some 40 scientists involved in the ‘Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol Transport Experimental Study’ (SOCRATES), including Australian Antarctic Division atmospheric scientist Dr Simon Alexander, are meeting in Hobart from 19–21 November to review and discuss the findings.

“The observations collected from the air, ships and land provided us with a large and unique dataset that will help evaluate and improve how clouds, precipitation and radiation are represented in climate models,” Dr Alexander said.

“This will in turn improve global weather and climate forecasts in the high southern latitudes.”

This second of three planned annual workshops has several goals. These include the presentation, discussion and continued analysis of data collected during the field campaigns, and to foster collaborations within the scientific community to identify future atmospheric research needs in the Southern Ocean region.

Learn more about the research on the project website.

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