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Carbon Uptake and Seasonal Traits of Antarctic Remineralisation Depth (CUSTARD)

Carbon Uptake and Seasonal Traits of Antarctic Remineralisation Depth (CUSTARD) is a £1.8 million, four-year (2018-2022) research project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The main aim of the CUSTARD project is to quantify the seasonal drivers of carbon fluxes in a region of the Southern Ocean upper limb, and estimate how long different quantities of carbon are kept out of the atmosphere based on the water flow routes at the observed remineralisation depths. Please visit the CUSTARD web page for more information

CUSTARD is one of three projects funded as part of the Role of the Southern Ocean in the Earth System (RoSES) programme, also known as the Southern Ocean programme. Please see the RoSES project document for more information on the wider programme and the research projects associated with it.

Background

The upper limb of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) represents an important junction in the marine carbon cycle, as the fate of carbon fixed by surface phytoplankton will differ according to how deep it penetrates before being remineralised. If shallow remineralisation occurs, carbon will follow the upper limb circulation and upwell further north, escaping into the atmosphere within decades. On the other hand, deep remineralisation will result in carbon entering the lower limb circulation, with the potential of being retained in the ocean for hundreds of years. Seasonality in plankton dynamics play an important role in remineralisation depth, and CUSTARD aims to resolve all factors contributing to the carbon export out of the region.

Participants

Six different UK-based organisations are directly involved in research for CUSTARD:

• National Oceanography Centre (NOC)
• NERC British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
• University of Southampton
• University of Oxford
• Plymouth University
• University of East Anglia (UEA)

CUSTARD collaborates closely with the US Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) program through sharing of instruments and platforms at and around the Global Southern Ocean Array. OOI is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is managed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Rutgers University maintains the cyberinfrastructure component, working alongside CUSTARD scientists in the handling and distribution of shared observational data.

Research details

Four Work Packages have been funded by the CUSTARD project, each addressing a separate project objective within the region of study in the south eastern Pacific ocean. These are described briefly below:

• Work Package 1: Obtain an accurate picture of the seasonal air-sea flux and macronutrient drawdown.
  This work package aims at determining the magnitude and variability of air-sea CO2 fluxes and their physical and biogeochemical drivers. High-resolution carbon measurements in the water column, CO2 flux estimates and daily resolved nitrate and silicate observations are combined to better understand the link between seasonal changes in CO2 fluxes and biological variability.

• Work Package 2: Quantify the link between iron and silicate availability and remineralisation depth.
  This work package investigates the annual cycle of phytoplankton dynamics, net production and export of organic material in conjunction with iron availability.

• Work Package 3: Observationally determine the seasonal cycle in remineralisation depth.
  This work package assesses remineralisation depth and its variability using marine snow catchers deployed during the process cruise, and backscatter measurements carried out year-round by gliders.

• Work Package 4: Examine the link between seasonality and remineralisation depth and the trajectory of carbon from the surface out of the upper limb.
  This work package aims to ingest all CUSTARD observational data into models to determine whether seasonal variability in phytoplankton composition is reflected in changes in remineralisation depth, which in turn leads to seasonal variability in the fate of organic carbon leaving the Southern Ocean via the upper limb.

Fieldwork and data collection

All the observational data from the project is collected at and south of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Global Southern Ocean Array, located south-west of Chile. Data collection activities span from November 2018 to January 2020, and include three cruises, four glider missions, and one mooring.

Cruises

All cruises depart from and return to Punta Arenas (Chile). Cruise activities include deployments and recovery of gliders and a mooring, Conductivity, Temperature and Depth (CTD), trace metal clean GoFlo bottle sampling, Red Camera Frame, Marine Snow Catcher and Underwater Vision Profiler deployments, as well as laboratory incubations with sea water samples. See cruise details below:

Gliders

Two Slocum 1000 MARS gliders (Pancake and Churchill) are deployed from DY096, to collect data continuously for one year until recovery on DY111. The gliders are mounted with CTD sensors, an optode, a fluorometer, and twin backscatter sensors. Pancake failed and its mission ended early in February 2019.

One Rutgers University glider is deployed from DY111, to collect data until recovery at the end of the same cruise. The glider is owned by Rutgers University and the data is shared with CUSTARD. It carries CTD sensors, an optode, a fluorometer, a backscatter sensor and a particle size analyser.

Mooring

Deployment of Global Surface Mooring GS01SUMO-00004 (SUMO-4) during DY096, to take continuous measurements for approximately one year until recovery during DY112. Its location is roughly 54 28 S, 89 02 W. This is an OOI mooring provided and deployed by WHOI, and adapted to integrate NOC lab-on-chip nitrate and silicate sensors.

Contacts

Dr. Adrian Marin (National Oceanography Centre, UK) - Lead Principal Investigator and lead of Work Package 4
Dr. Dorothee Bakker (University of East Anglia, UK) - Lead of Work Package 1
Prof. Mark Moore (University of Southampton, UK) - Lead of Work Package 2
Dr. Stephanie Henson (National Oceanography Centre / University of Southampton, UK) - Lead of Work Package 3