Publication Date:
2024-04-29
Description:
〈jats:p〉Abstract. Systematic long-term studies on ecosystem dynamics are largely
lacking from the East Antarctic Southern Ocean, although it is well
recognized that they are indispensable to identify the ecological impacts
and risks of environmental change. Here, we present a framework for
establishing a long-term cross-disciplinary study on decadal timescales. We
argue that the eastern Weddell Sea and the adjacent sea to the east, off
Dronning Maud Land, is a particularly well suited area for such a study,
since it is based on findings from previous expeditions to this region.
Moreover, since climate and environmental change have so far been
comparatively muted in this area, as in the eastern Antarctic in general, a
systematic long-term study of its environmental and ecological state can
provide a baseline of the current situation, which will be important for an
assessment of future changes from their very onset, with consistent and
comparable time series data underpinning and testing models and their
projections. By establishing an Integrated East Antarctic Marine
Research (IEAMaR) observatory, long-term changes in ocean dynamics,
geochemistry, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions and services will be
systematically explored and mapped through regular autonomous and ship-based
synoptic surveys. An associated long-term ecological research (LTER)
programme, including experimental and modelling work, will allow for
studying climate-driven ecosystem changes and interactions with impacts
arising from other anthropogenic activities. This integrative approach will
provide a level of long-term data availability and ecosystem understanding
that are imperative to determine, understand, and project the consequences
of climate change and support a sound science-informed management of future
conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean.
〈/jats:p〉
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
,
isiRev
Format:
application/pdf
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