Located between the 40th parallel south and the Antarctic continent, the Southern Ocean is a key climate region, not least because it is one of the world's largest carbon sinks and a hub for nutrients between the other 3 oceans. But because it is so remote and dangerous, it is also a little-known region. That's why around 60 scientists will be embarking on 11 January as part of the Swings (South West Indian Geotraces Section) campaign, to learn more about the role of each of the elements involved in the carbon sequestration process. "This is a highly structuring project, which brings together all the French teams with expertise in the subject," enthuses Françoise Vimeux, Chair of the LEFE programme, which gave the project a very positive assessment and then supported it as part of its call for tenders. "They will be exploring some burning climate-related questions, which were also raised at the INSU foresight meeting: how does the trace element cycle influence the carbon pump?
Trace elements are chemical elements essential to living organisms and naturally present in very small quantities in the soil, water and air. In the ocean, their diffusion mechanisms are still poorly understood. Quantifying their transport to and within the ocean is the objective of the international GEOTRACES programme, which includes this mission. Its distinctive feature is that it combines biogeochemistry, modelling and physical oceanography.
In addition to the French teams, Swings is an international project involving teams from the USA, the UK, South Africa, Belgium, Switzerland, etc. For example, for the collection and analysis of aerosols (Bill Landing, Florida State University), the assimilation of surface iron by plankton (Thomas Ryan Keogh, CSIRO, Cape Town) or the isotopy of nickel (Nolwen Lemaitre and Derek Vance, ETH, Zurich).
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PI de Swings
Catherine Jeandel (CNRS) from LEGOS and Hélène Planquette (CNRS) from LEMAR.
Laboratories involved in the Swings project
Marine Environment Sciences Laboratory (CNRS/Ifremer/IRD/Université de Bretagne occidentale)
Space Geophysics and Oceanography Laboratory (CNRS/Cnes/IRD/Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier)
Dynamic Meteorology Laboratory (CNRS/ENS-PSL/École Polytechnique-Institut Polytechnique de Paris/Sorbonne University)
Oceanography and climate laboratory: experiments and numerical approaches (CNRS/IRD/MNHN/Sorbonne University)
European Research and Teaching Centre for Environmental Geosciences (CNRS/Inrae/IRD/Aix-Marseille University)
Microbial Oceanography Laboratory (CNRS/Sorbonne University)
Mediterranean Institute of Oceanology (CNRS/IRD/University of Toulon/Aix-Marseille University)
Climate, Environment, Couplings and Uncertainties Laboratory (CNRS/Cerfacs)
Technical Division of the INSU of the CNRS