An Australian and international research voyage has used bathymetric seafloor mapping, satellite remote sensing and ocean current analysis to reveal more secrets of the Southern Ocean.
The FOCUS voyage aboard CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator surveyed 20,000 square kilometres in high-resolution, three-dimensional detail down to the seafloor as much as 4,000 metres below.
The aim of the voyage was to gather data within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in order to understand how heat leaking across that natural barrier contributes to the melting of Antarctic ice shelves and the potential for sea-level rise.
Voyage chief scientist Dr Benoit Legresy said the CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership worked with collaborators from the US and France, and made use of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, jointly developed by NASA and the French space agency CNES.
Read more in Spatial Source article.