The Antarctic CRC, more lengthily known as the Cooperative Research Center for the Antarctic and Southern Oceans, is a Tasmania-based organization that was established in 1991 and is now one of the largest polar region research organizations in the world. During an earlier voyage this year, their ship Aurora Australis laid a series of oceanographic moorings around the Mertz Polynya in preparation for this expedition. The seven moorings, secured in depths ranging from 500 metres to 3,000 metres, contain instruments that can measure water temperature from the ocean floor to the surface, water salinity, fluctuations in ocean current, the thickness of the sea ice, as well its pressure. The moorings will yield data for the current expedition, and will help researchers understand the exchanges of energy, water, and gases between the ocean and atmosphere around Antarctica that influence weather conditions around the world. Coastal polynyas have a considerable effect on global climatic conditions.
Ice contains no salt, and as large amounts of new ice forms, sea salt is released into the ocean.
This forms a thick, dense and cold saltwater that tends to sink, a process called thermohaline circulation. This dense water, known as Antarctic Bottom Water, is of immense importance to global climatic systems. It slowly filters out into the world s oceans, and is estimated to represent a quarter of their volume. It s rich in oxygen and nurtures the oceans food chain, and the Antarctic CRC believes the region under study contributes a quarter of all Antarctic Bottom Water. Unfortunately, the only way to fully understand this phenomena is to be there in the winter, comments the expedition s scientific cruise leader, Dr. Ian Allison.