Deep subsurface warming raises Antarctic sea levels, alarms scientists

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 18 February 2008 14:06

Science - Climate

15 year research on regular voyages between Australia’s Tasmanian capital, Hobart, and the French base at Dumont D’Urville in Antarctica has shown rising sea levels due to warming that could have a serious impact on the planet and the region.

A Hobart-Antarctic shipping route travelled by the same vessel, the L’Astrolabe, has generated the longest continuous record of temperature and salinity changes in the Southern Ocean for scientists studying how the ocean controls global climate.

The data collected has raised alarm with scientists studying the region, who note that the rising sea levels, caused by deep subsurface warming and possible large-scale wind shifts, could potentially affect changes to the atmosphere and the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the Southern Ocean.

In addition the warming waters are seeing ‘warm water species’ now being found further south, posing a real threat to sea life and animals in the area unaccustomed to unfriendly warm water neighbours visiting the area looking for new food sources.

The specific study behind the findings is called SURVOSTRAL, short for the “Surveillance of the Ocean Austral”, and is a joint Australian-French-US program that has produced the 15-year dataset which is based on readings taken by the volunteers and crew of the 65-metre French ship, L'Astrolabe.

The Program's Australian leader, CSIRO scientist Dr Steve Rintoul, from the Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship and the Antarctic Cooperative Research Centre said that: "SURVOSTRAL has given us a foundation for much of what is known about the way the ocean in this inhospitable and difficult-to-access region controls global climate. A record of 15 years along the same route may appear short but already that is an incredibly valuable
resource.”

According to the CSIRO, the SURVOSTRAL research program involves “scientists taking surface salinity and temperature measurements to a depth of 700 metres along the 2,700 kilometre, six-day route”.

So, what else does the CSIRO have to say about the project, and what did else Dr Steve Rintoul have to say about ocean warming before the L'Astrolabe's departure tonight? Please read onto page 2.