Scotia Sea open-ocean biological laboratories

What this project does 

SCOOBIES makes long-term observations of key Earth system indicators in the Southern Ocean. These observations are vital for both UK and global science.

The observatories are in the northern Scotia Sea. The project focuses on understanding the biological and biogeochemical processes in the largest persistent phytoplankton bloom in the Southern Ocean. It also measures levels of pollution in this remote region of the planet.

The bloom plays a key role in carbon cycling. Phytoplankton fix carbon in surface waters through photosynthesis. Some of this carbon sinks to the deep ocean, removing it from the biosphere. SCOOBIES moorings are equipped to measure the flux of carbon as well as contaminants like microplastics.

The SCOOBIES site provides a platform for a wealth of interdisciplinary science

Why this matters

When the ocean stores carbon, it keeps it out of the atmosphere where it would otherwise trap heat and warm the planet.

The carbon pump, the process by which carbon is moved from the surface to the deep ocean, is crucial for regulating atmospheric CO₂. Understanding the carbon pump is essential for predicting climate change and the ocean’s role in mitigating CO₂ levels.

Why the Southern Ocean is so important

The Southern Ocean absorbs far more human-made carbon than you’d expect for its size. Areas with lots of ocean life, like the South Georgia bloom, store the most carbon. SCOOBIES measures these strategically important areas.

Threats we’re monitoring

The project measures ocean acidity (pH and CO₂ levels), which is increasing rapidly in polar regions. We’re also tracking pollutants such as microplastics and black carbon (soot).

Both ocean acidification and pollution can reduce the ocean’s ability to store carbon. By measuring continuously over time, we can track changes in the carbon pump and see how it responds to the combined pressures of climate change and pollution.

How the project works 

• Deploying moorings with sediment traps to measure carbon flux over annual cycles

• Recording biological activity in open-ocean bloom regions and shelf sites

• Measuring carbonate chemistry parameters to monitor ocean acidification

• Measuring levels of pollutants such as microplastics and black carbon

• Comparing measurements across multiple sites, including P3 (bloom), WCB (shelf), and historically P2 (low productivity region)

SCOOBIES sustained observation stations

Who is involved 

SCOOBIES is part of UK National Capability science, supported by British Antarctic Survey and other research partners.  

The program brings together interdisciplinary expertise in biological, chemical, and physical oceanography.

Enhance understanding of Southern Ocean environmental variation and response

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.

Capture and analyse long term carbon data

The sustained observations undertaken by SCOOBIES presently provides the only long-term measurements of carbon flux and sequestration in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The observatories (2 currently, previously 3) are strategically placed around the South Georgia bloom, the largest hotspot of primary productivity in the Southern Ocean, and a major region of atmospheric carbon drawdown. The observatories are maintained in association with the bioacoustic systems deployed as part of the POETS funded programme.  POETS supports the major hardware for the observatories, such as weights, rope and recovery buoys.  SCOOBIES encompasses the augmentation of these moorings with devices that measure parameters relevant to biogeochemical cycles, vertical flux, ocean acidification and microplastic monitoring.  It also involves zooplankton net 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 and silica, and the influence of environmental variables on these processes, including eddy activity, variability in the location of water masses, upwelling, and ocean acidification.

Build expertise that influences other research programmes

SCOOBIES was a major driver to the COMICS NERC Large Grant proposal, which was successfully funded in 2015 to determine the major drivers in mechanisms controlling the attenuation of carbon flux with depth. This £3.7M proposal will carry out a major multi-institute, multi-disciplinary cruise around the SCOOBIES sites in November and December 2017, bringing together expertise in physics, biogeochemistry and marine robotics to augment the sustained observations being made in this region by the SCOOBIES team.  The expertise built up by SCOOBIES was also integral part of PICCOLO NERC Thematic grant, which recently bid successfully to examine carbon flux and other biogeochemical processes in the lower limb of Antarctic overturning circulation as part of the ROSES programme in support of the NERC LTSM project, ORCHESTRA. SCOOBIES scientists will measure sinking particulate carbon and pelagic biomass in the Weddell Sea, using techniques developed at the SCOOBIES site and, in so doing, providing a high latitude comparison to SCOOBIES.

PhD Students

• Jessie Gardner- ENVEAST DTP University East Anglia, “Winners and losers in a more acidified ocean: impact on the physiology and life history of two pteropod species”
• Kirstie Williams Jones-GW4plus DTP Exter University , The distribution and fate of microplastic pollution in polar environments: from the Canadian Arctic to the South Pole
• Cecilia Liska-ENVEAST DTP, University East Anglia, “Determining the active flux of carbon within the Southern Ocean and its sensitivity to climate change”
• Emily Rowlands-GW4plus DTP, University of Exter, Assessing levels of nanoplastic in-situ in the Southern Ocean
• Vicky Flower ENVEAST, UEA, “Detecting zooplankton foray behaviour in polar marine environments”
• Anna Mikis (University of Cardiff) The application of single specimen foraminiferal isotope analyses to investigate seasonality in the Southern Ocean
• Anna Belcher , University of Southampton, “Controls on the attenuation of sinking particulate organic carbon in the mesopelagic”
• Manon Duret (University of Southampton) Microbial communities in sinking and suspended particles and their influence on the oceanic biological carbon pump (2018)
• Emma Lagan, NEXUSS DTP, UEA and Earlham Institute, Nanopore sequencing of polar microbes
• Louise Cornwell GW4plus, (University of Exeter) Assessing the mechanisms driving marine organism responses to changes in climate using the globally important copepod Oithona similis
• Frankie Perry (University of Southampton) Antarctic krill recruitment in the south-west Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean (2020)

International PhD Students

• Roberta Johson International Collaboration, PhD University of Barcelona, Spain, Distribution of coccolithophore in the Southern Ocean
• Elena Ceballos-Romero (University of Sevilla) Study of the key processes in the export and storage of carbon in the oceans through radioactive pairs: 234Th-238U and 210Po-210Pb (2019)
• Angelika Slomska (University of Gdansk) The historical demography of Salpa thompsoni as a response for previous climate change episodes (2022)
• Jose Seco (University of Coimbra) Trace metals in Antarctic Marine Food webs – influence of biological and environmental factors (2019)
• Elisa Bergami (University of Siena) Impact of nanoplastics and ocean acidification on zooplankton (2019)
• Rosie Oakes (Penn State University) Towards understanding the impact of ocean acidification on the shell condition of thecosome pteropods (2017)

Ongoing National

• Laura Taylor C-Clear DTP, Cambridge University, Unrevealing the carbon export and recycling using silica isotopes
• Alena Sakovich IAPETUS DTP, University of Durham, Microplastic flux in the Scotia Sea

Ongoing International

• Joana Fragao, University of Coimbra, Microplastic in the Scotia Sea food web

REP

• Kaen The role of zooplankton daily migration on microplastic export in the Scotia Sea
• Parima Shah, Microplastic in situ degradation: data from OPIC deployment
• Emma Robinson University of York, Driver of carbonate flux in the Scotia Sea
• Harry Gunning University of St Andrew, Seasonal variability of pelagic amphipods in the Scotia Sea: a sediment trap approach
• Laura Williams, University of St. Andrew, Microplastic in Krill and Salps in the Scotia Sea
• Flo Atherden Seasonal variability on copepod abundance in the Scotis sea from sediment trap samples
• Pip Birchenall Vertical Distribution of Microplastic along the water column

EDI

• Meltem OK, TUBITAK project, Turkish internship, Pelagic Foraminifera in the Scotia Sea

Ongoing International Collaborations

• University of Barcelona, Spain – Patrizia Ziveri
• Institute of Polar Sciences of the Italian National Council of Research, Italy – Federico Giglio
• MARUM, Centre for Marine Environmental Science, Bremen, Germany – Julie Meiland
• Portugal, University of Coimbra, Portugal – Jose CG Xavier
• University of Modena, Department of Life Sciences, Italy – Elisa Bergami

1. Science cruise departs ahead of Discovery Investigations anniversary

   Today the royal research ship RRS Discovery will depart Southampton for an ambitious science expedition to the ocean around South Georgia. This expedition will take place almost 100 years after […]

   Read more of: Science cruise departs ahead of Discovery Investigations anniversary

   

2 weekly to monthly resolution through moored instrumentation –  particulate organic carbon (POC), particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) and particulate biosilica (BSI) and biological flux components phytoplankton detritus, faecal pellets, foraminifera and pteropods,  analyses of the carbonate chemistry (for derivation of pH), pCO2 and hydrological variables, temperature, salinity, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen and concentrations and composition of microplastics.

Annual visits to the site – depth-discrete zooplankton community composition (0-1000 m), stable isotope analyses of key species, physical and biogeochemical measurements with which to calibrate and baseline the moored instrumentation

For access to data, contact: Geraint Tarling (gant@bas.ac.uk) and Clara Manno (clanno@bas.ac.uk)

Open-access data

Euphausiid and salp abundance and population parameters up to 2016 (and including Discovery Investigation data) https://www.bas.ac.uk/project/krillbase – doi for data up to 2016 is available here for external download.

Physical and acoustic data from moorings

Data collected as part of the SCOOBIES program can be found through the following links:

WCB mooring – https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00948

P3 mooring – https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00952

P2 mooring – https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00953

Additional information, and context with other global moorings can be found in OceanOPS records, for example:

WCB mooring – https://www.ocean-ops.org/board/wa/Platform?ref=3801029_023

P3 mooring – https://www.ocean-ops.org/board/wa/Platform?ref=3801028_012

Data publications associated with SCOOBIES program:

Belcher, A., Wootton, M., & Manno, C. (2023). Sediment trap plankton community composition from the Scotia Sea in 2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/6a5a80f9-4c30-4ad6-a5be-ccba53f8a464

Belcher, A., Henley, S.F., Hendry, K.R., Friberg, L., Dallman, U., Wang, T., & Manno, C. (2023). Sediment trap fluxes and stable isotopes of particulate carbon, nitrogen and biogenic silica from the Scotia Sea in 2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/32629396-bafc-40bd-ab6f-3dea5f3e51c1

Manno, C. (2020). Exuviae krill flux in the northern Scotia Sea from January 2018 to December 2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/60f9b354-2cbf-4d4d-84f7-13c9224f82d4

Manno, C. (2018). Carbonate flux in the Northern Scotia Sea from April 2009 to February 2011 (Version None) [Data set]. Polar Data Centre, British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/749ffa17-ee4f-46a4-8827-5f062af19a6c

Publications associated with SCOOBIES program:

Dewar-Fowler, V., Robinson, C., Saunders, R.A., Tarling, G.A. (2023) Detection of foray behaviour in the zooplankton of the Polar Frontal Zone. Mar Ecol Prog Ser: 715: 27–39, 2023 doi.org/10.3354/meps14355

Cook, K., Belcher, A., Bondayle Juez, D., Stowasser, G., Fieding, S., Saunders, R.A., Elsafi, M.A., Wolff, G., Tarling, G.A., Mayor DJ (2023) Carbon budgets of Scotia Sea mesopelagic zooplankton and micronekton communities. Deep Sea Res II (COMICS Special Issue): 210: 105296 doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2023.105296

Gardner, J., Peck, V.L., Bakker, D.C.E., Tarling, G.A., Manno, C. (2023) Contrasting life cycles of Southern Ocean pteropods alter their vulnerability to climate change. Front Mar Sci 10:1118570. doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1118570

Whitehouse, M.J., Hendry, K.R., Tarling, G.A., Thorpe, S.E., ten Hoopen, P. (2023) A database of marine macronutrient, temperature and salinity measurements made around the highly productive island of South Georgia, the Scotia Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula between 1980 and 2009. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 15, 211-224. doi: 10.5194/essd-15-211-2023

Manno, C., Stowasser, G., Fielding, S., Apeland, B., Tarling, G.A. (2022) Deep carbon export peaks are driven by different biological pathways during the extended Scotia Sea (Southern Ocean) bloom. Deep Sea Res II (COMICS Special Issue) 205: 105183 doi: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2022.105183

Manno, C., Peck, V.L., Corsi, I., Bergami, E. (2022) Under pressure: Nanoplastics as a further stressor for Sub-Antarctic pteropods already tackling ocean acidification. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 174, 113176 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113176

Ward, P., Tarling, G.A., Ten Hoopen, P. (2022) A database of zooplankton abundance in the Atlantic sectors of the Southern and (sub)Arctic Oceans. Patterns 100554 doi; 10.1016/j.patter.2022.100554

Belcher, A. , Fielding, S. , Gray, A., Biermann, L., Stowasser, G. , Fretwell, P. , Ireland, L. , Tarling, G.A. (2021) Experimental determination of reflectance spectra of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the Scotia Sea. Antarctic Science, 33. 13 pp. doi: 10.1017/S0954102021000262

Seco, J., Freitas, R., Xavier, J.C., Bustamante, P., Coelho, J.P., Coppola, F., Saunders, R.A., Almeida, A., Fielding, S., Pardal, M.A., Stowasser, G., Pompeo, G., Tarling, G.A., Brierley, A.S., Pereira, E. (2021) Oxidative stress, metabolic activity and mercury concentrations in Antarctic krill Euphausia superba and myctophid fish of the Southern Ocean. Mar Poll Bull. 166:112178 doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112178

Liszka, C., Robinson, C., Manno, C., Stowasser, G., Tarling, G.A. (2021) Diel vertical migration of the Southern Ocean euphausiid, Euphausia triacantha, and its metabolic response to consequent short-term temperature changes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 660:37-52 doi: 10.3354/meps13618

Seco, J., Aparício, S., Brierley, A.S., Bustamante, P., Ceia, F.R., Coelho, J.P., Phillips, R.A., Saunders, R.A., Fielding, S., Gregory, S., Matias, R., Pardal, M.A., Pereira, E., Stowasser, G., Tarling, G.A., Xavier, J.C. (2021) Mercury biomagnification in a Southern Ocean food web. Environmental Pollution 116620  doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116620

Rowlands, E., Galloway, T., Manno, C. (2021) A Polar outlook: Potential interactions of micro-and nano-plastic with other anthropogenic stressors. Science of the Total Environment, 754. 12 pp. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142379

Bergami, E., Manno, C. , Cappello, S., Vannuccini, M.L., Corsi, I. (2020) Nanoplastics affect moulting and faecal pellet sinking in Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) juveniles. Environment International, 143. 11 pp. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105999

Jones-Williams, K., Galloway, T., Cole, M., Stowasser, G. , Waluda, C. , Manno, C. (2020) Close encounters – microplastic availability to pelagic amphipods in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic surface waters. Environment International, 140. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105792

Manno, C. , Fielding, S., Stowasser, G., Murphy, E.J., Thorpe, S.E., Tarling, G.A. (2020) Continuous moulting by Antarctic krill drives major pulses of carbon export in the north Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean. Nature Communications, 11. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19956-7

Seco, J., Xavier, J.C. , Bustamante, P., Coelho, J.P., Saunders, R.A., Ferreira, N., Fielding, S., Pardal, M.A., Stowasser, G. , Viana, T., Tarling, G.A. , Pereira, E., Brierley, A.S. (2020) Main drivers of mercury levels in Southern Ocean lantern fish Myctophidae. Environmental Pollution, 264. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114711

Seco, J., Xavier, J.C. , Brierley, A.S., Bustamante, P., Coelho, J.P., Gregory, S., Fielding, S. , Pardal, M.A., Pereira, B., Stowasser, G. , Tarling, G.A. , Pereira, E. (2020) Mercury levels in Southern Ocean squid: Variability over the last decade. Chemosphere, 239. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124785

Oakes, R.L., Peck, V.L. , Manno, C. , Bralower, T.J.. (2019) Degradation of internal organic matter is the main control on pteropod shell dissolution after death. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 33. 749-760. doi: 10.1029/2019GB006223

Oakes, R.L., Peck, V.L. , Manno, C., Bralower, T.J. (2019) Impact of preservation techniques on pteropod shell condition. Polar Biology, 42. 257-269. doi: 10.1007/s00300-018-2419-x

Liszka, C., Manno, C., Stowasser, G., Robinson, C., Tarling, G.A. (2019) Mesozooplankton community composition controls faecal pellet flux and remineralisation depth in the Southern Ocean. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00230

Seco, J., Xavier, J.C., Coelho, J.P., Pereira, B., Tarling, G.A., Pardal, M.A., Bustamante, P., Stowasser, G., Brierley, A.S., Pereira, M.E. (2019) Spatial variability in total and organic mercury levels in Antarctic krill Euphausia superba across the Scotia Sea. Environmental Pollution, 247. 332-339. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.01.031

Belcher, A., Saunders, R.A., Tarling, G.A. (2019) Respiration rates and active carbon flux of mesopelagic fishes (Family Myctophidae) in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 610. 149-162. doi: 10.3354/meps12861

Saunders, R.A., Hill, S.L. , Tarling, G.A. , Murphy, E.J.  (2019) Myctophid fish (Family Myctophidae) are central consumers in the food web of the Scotia Sea (Southern Ocean). Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00530

Manno, C., Giglio, F., Stowasser, G., Fielding, S., Enderlein, P., Tarling, G.A. (2018) Threatened species drive the strength of the carbonate pump in the northern Scotia Sea. Nature Communications, 9. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07088-y

Belcher, A., Manno, C., Thorpe, S., Tarling, G.A. (2018) Acantharian cysts: high flux occurrence in the bathypelagic zone of the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean. Marine Biology, 165. 11 pp. doi: 10.1007/s00227-018-3376-1

Gardner, J., Manno, C., Bakker, D.C.E., Peck, V.L., Tarling, G.A. (2018) Southern Ocean pteropods at risk from ocean warming and acidification. Marine Biology, 165. 12 pp. doi: 10.1007/s00227-017-3261-3

Saunders, R.A., Tarling, G.A. (2018) Southern Ocean mesopelagic fish comply with Bergmann’s Rule. The American Naturalist, 191. 343-351. doi: 10.1086/695767

Rembauville, M., Blain, S., Manno, C., Tarling, G.A., Thompson, A., Wolff, G., Salter, I. (2018) The role of diatom resting spores in pelagic–benthic coupling in the Southern Ocean. Biogeosciences, 15. 3071-3084. doi: 10.5194/bg-15-3071-2018

Belcher, A., Tarling, G.A., Manno, C., Atkinson, A., Ward, P., Skaret, G., Fielding, S., Henson, S.A., Sanders, R. (2017) The potential role of Antarctic krill faecal pellets in efficient carbon export at the marginal ice zone of the South Orkney Islands in spring. Polar Biology, 40. 2001-2013. doi:10.1007/s00300-017-2118-z

Belcher, A., Manno, C., Ward, P., Henson, S., Sanders, R., Tarling, G.A. (2017) Copepod faecal pellet transfer through the meso- and bathypelagic layers in the Southern Ocean in spring. Biogeosciences, 14. 1511-1525. doi:10.5194/bg-14-1511-2017

Belcher, A., Iversen, M., Manno, C., Henson, S.A., Tarling G.A., Sanders R. (2016) The role of particle associated microbes in remineralisation of faecal pellets in the upper mesopelagic of the Scotia Sea, Antarctica. Limnology and Oceanography, doi: 10.1002/lno.10269

Manno, C., Peck V.L., Tarling G.A. (2016) Pteropod eggs released at high pCO2 lack resilience to ocean acidification. Nature Scientific Reports 6: 25752. doi: 10.1038/srep25752

Rembauville, M., Manno, C., Tarling, G.A., Blain, S., Salter, I. (2016) Strong contribution of diatom resting spores to deep-sea carbon transfer in naturally iron-fertilized waters downstream of South Georgia. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 115. 22-35. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2016.05.002

Manno, C. Stowasser, G., Enderlein, P., Fielding, S., Tarling, G. A. (2015) The contribution of zooplankton faecal pellets to deep carbon transport in the Scotia Sea (Southern Ocean) Biogeosciences, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-1955-2015

Example mooring configuration

1. RRS Sir David Attenborough

   Our state-of-the-art polar science ship provides scientists access to remote and challenging marine environments across the Antarctic and Arctic.

   Read more of: RRS Sir David Attenborough