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PML scientists head to Antarctica to investigate the carbon secrets of the Southern Ocean

22 January 2024

The ambitious 30-day scientific expedition aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough is part of the PICCOLO project

Above: Our scientists will be on board the RSS Sir David Attenborough for the PICCOLO expedition. Image credit: British Antarctic Survey. 

Above: Our scientists will be on board the RSS Sir David Attenborough for the PICCOLO expedition. Image credit: British Antarctic Survey.

With its severe environment of mountainous seas, roaring winds, and freezing temperatures and ice, the vast and remote Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is one of the least explored parts of the global Ocean.

It is also the world’s largest heat and carbon sink, but many of its biological, chemical and physical processes are not yet fully understood.

Cue the PICCOLO project which aims to understand and quantify the mechanisms that transform the carbon contained in the seawater as it rises to the surface near Antarctica and interacts with the atmosphere, ice, phytoplankton and zooplankton inhabiting the near surface, before descending to the ocean depths.

A collaborative team of scientists are currently on their way to the Weddell Sea from Punta Arenas, Chile to begin the PICCOLO cruise.

PML’s Professor Tom Bell is co-lead of the PICCOLO project and is leading the PML team. Before joining the expedition, he kindly sat down to tell us all about it:

WATCH VIDEO: PROF. TOM BELL ON THE PICCOLO PROJECT