BAS Discovery 2010 - Integrating Southern Ocean Ecosystems into the Earth System

Lead Research Organisation: NERC British Antarctic Survey

Abstract

The DISCOVERY 2010 Programme investigated the response of an ocean ecosystem to climate variability, climate change and commercial exploitation. The Programme built on past studies by the British Antarctic Survey on the detailed nature of the South Georgia marine ecosystem and its links with the large-scale physical and biological behaviour of the Southern Ocean. The aim was to identify, quantify and model key interactions and processes on scales that range from microscopic life forms to higher predators (penguins, albatrosses, seals and whales), and from the local to the circumpolar. Objectives were: a) to assess the links between the status of local marine food webs and variability and change in the Southern Ocean; b) to develop a linked set of ecosystem models applying relevant marine physics and biology over scales from the local to that of the entire Southern Ocean.