CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Region Implementation Panel

3-D global overturning diagram, from Lumpkin and Speer (2006). The diagram illustrates some of the key roles the Southern Ocean plays in the climate system. The Southern Ocean buffers the rest of the world from the frigid conditions of the Antarctic continent, while meridional overturning across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the mechanism for the exchange of heat, Carbon Dioxide and other climate anomalies from the surface to the deep World Ocean

News and Highlights

The CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean region panel felt that drafting strategy recommendations for an integrated modelling effort in the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Marginal Seas during IPY should be a priority. A first draft of such a strategy, prepared by Karen Assmann, with input from Sabrina Speich, Alberto Naveirra, Alex Orsi, Karen Heywood, Kevin Speer and others is available in and format (comments are welcome)

The 5th meeting of the Southern Ocean region panel will take place in Sydney on the 16-18 of February 2009.

A planning workshop for the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) took place in Bremen, Germany on the 1-3 October 2007

The 4th meeting of the Southern Ocean region panel took place in Buenos Aires on the 14-17 of November. Presentations from the meeting are now available

Presentations available from the Southern Ocean Modelling Workshop

CLIVAR Exchanges issue on Southern Hemisphere Climate Variability

Recommendations for the CLIVAR/GODAE Global Ocean Reanalysis Evaluation Framework (draft) available in or formats

CASO (Climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean) Website

Atlas of Antarctic Sea Ice Drift and WOCE Southern Ocean Atlas

SCAR Ocean Reader (Southern Ocean oceanographic data)

FSU Southern Ocean Argo - includes deployment opportunities etc.