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| Southern Ocean Fluxes and Exchanges (SOFE) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Southern Ocean Fluxes and Exchanges |
| Abbreviation | SOFE |
| Formation | 21st century |
| Focus | Southern Ocean circulation, air-sea exchanges, biogeochemical cycles |
| Region | Southern Ocean |
Southern Ocean Fluxes and Exchanges (SOFE) is an international research initiative focused on quantifying exchanges of heat, freshwater, momentum, carbon, and nutrients across the surface and interior of the Southern Ocean. The program synthesizes observations, process studies, modeling, and synthesis activities to address how the Southern Ocean interacts with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, World Meteorological Organization, UNESCO, and research networks led by institutions such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, British Antarctic Survey, and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
SOFE targets the coupled dynamics of the Southern Ocean bounded by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the Drake Passage, and the Polar Front. The initiative coordinates campaigns involving research platforms from RV Polarstern, RV Investigator, RV Tangaroa, and icebreaker missions supported by Alfred Wegener Institute, National Science Foundation, and Australian Antarctic Division. SOFE links observational efforts with numerical groups at National Center for Atmospheric Research, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
SOFE aims to quantify surface fluxes of heat and freshwater that drive stratification and overturning in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and to measure air-sea gas exchanges that control uptake of climate-relevant tracers. Objectives include closing budgets for the Meridional Overturning Circulation, constraining the Southern Ocean contribution to global carbon cycle, and resolving the role of mesoscale eddies around the Kerguelen Plateau. The scope spans process-scale studies informed by campaigns associated with programs like SOCCOM, Southern Ocean Observing System, International CLIVAR Project, GEOTRACES, and Argo float deployments coordinated with Global Ocean Observing System.
SOFE integrates ship-based CTD sections, microstructure profilers, underway pCO2 systems, and autonomous platforms including Argo, SOCCOM floats, gliders, and surface drifters. Remote sensing inputs use satellites from European Space Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and JAXA for sea surface temperature, sea surface height from Jason altimeters, and ocean color retrievals informing productivity estimates near the Polar Front. Instrument suites include acoustic Doppler current profilers manufactured by Teledyne, biogeochemical sensors developed by Seabird Electronics and Aanderaa, and novel platforms from Kongsberg and Bluefin Robotics. Quality-controlled datasets are archived at centers such as EMODnet, PANGAEA, British Oceanographic Data Centre, and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
SOFE quantifies turbulent air-sea fluxes of sensible and latent heat, momentum forcing associated with the Southern Annular Mode, and freshwater exchanges from melting ice influenced by Antarctic ice sheet dynamics. Biogeochemical focus includes CO2 uptake, nutrient supply via upwelling across the Antarctic Divergence, and iron limitation around island chains like South Georgia and the Kerguelen Plateau. Tracer studies use radiocarbon measured by laboratories at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and oxygen isotopes managed by groups at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory to trace water mass transformation tied to phenomena such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Indian Ocean Dipole.
Modeling efforts in SOFE span eddy-resolving ocean general circulation models developed at Met Office Hadley Centre, NOAA GFDL, and CSRIO Oceans and Atmosphere along with coupled Earth system models maintained by NASA GISS and ECMWF. Data assimilation merges observations into reanalyses like ERA5 and ocean products from Copernicus to constrain budgets. Teams employ inverse methods pioneered in studies at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and variational techniques used by Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. High-resolution studies utilize supercomputing resources at National Computational Infrastructure and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility.
SOFE has demonstrated the Southern Ocean’s disproportionate role in global heat and carbon uptake, influencing projections reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and informing policy discussions at Conference of the Parties. Results show shifts in westerly wind patterns linked to the Southern Annular Mode affect upwelling and carbon outgassing, with implications for sea level via interactions with the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Observational campaigns have revealed hotspots of biogeochemical exchange around Kerguelen Plateau and South Sandwich Islands, and have refined estimates of anthropogenic carbon storage comparable to early findings by teams at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
SOFE operates through partnerships among national programs such as the National Science Foundation, Australian Research Council, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, and consortia including the Southern Ocean Observing System and International CLIVAR Project. Collaborations extend to policy-oriented organizations like the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and data stewardship via World Data System. Training and capacity building occur through exchanges with universities including University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Auckland, and Australian National University. Multi-institutional working groups convene at venues such as meetings of the American Geophysical Union, European Geosciences Union, and thematic symposia at the International Marine Conservation Congress.