GDAC Post-Cruise Metadata form

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Cruise Name: [any identifier (acronyms)
including technical name] / K-axis, V3 2015/16 Aurora Australis
Platform Name and type: RSV Aurora Australis
[vessel, mooring, satellite, towed vehicle]
Project: K-axis
[associated project or program name related to funding]
Lead Nation: Australia
Chief Scientist (Lead Scientist / Principal Investigator) contact details
Name (including title): Dr. Andrew Constable / Email: / Phone (including country code): +61 3 6232 3558
Mailing Address:
ACE CRC Private Bag 80
Hobart Tasmania 7001
Co-Chief Scientist contact details: [GEOTRACES point of contact if different from Chief Scientist]
Name (including title): A/Prof Andrew Bowie (UTAS-IMAS and ACE CRC) / Email: / Phone (including country code): +61 3 6226 2509
Mailing Address:
20 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point TAS 7004, Australia
Cruise Details
Start Port and Country: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia / Start date: January 11, 2016
End Port and Country: Fremantle, Australia / End Date: March 20, 2016
Location: [general description of study area; map/ cruise track/ coordinates if possible]
Southern Ocean, southern Kerguelen plateau, Banzare Bank

Cruise Overview: [proposal abstract]
The Southern Ocean is one of the most rapidly changing environments on Earth. Key questions for understanding the consequences of change in the region include: (i) Will southward movement of the ocean fronts, as well as the extent of winter sea ice, give rise to a contraction in the northern range of polar species such as Antarctic krill? (ii) How will productivity of the region change as a result of changing attributes of physical habitats in areas of iron supply? (iii) What factors might give rise to a shift from a krill-based food web to a food web based on copepods and fish? These questions are central to management of fisheries and conservation in the region. Important to managers is the question on how to most efficiently monitor the ecosystem to determine whether such changes are arising or may arise in the near future. This last question is central to developing biological capability within the Southern Ocean Observing System.
Drivers of food webs in the Southern Ocean include bottom topography, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), its associated fronts including its southern boundary, coastal currents and gyres, seasonal extent of sea ice, and locations of primary production, which are often associated with hot spots of iron supply. Our ability to answer the questions above will be determined, in part, by our ability to assess the relative importance of these drivers in Southern Ocean ecosystems.
The Kerguelen Plateau and its associated marine food webs, including those near the Antarctic continent, form an axis in the Indian Sector of known high productivity. Unlike many other regions of the Southern Ocean, the Kerguelen Axis (Figure 1) is a place where environmental drivers of the ecosystem can be differentiated from one another. A marine science program over the southern area of the Kerguelen Plateau will be undertaken by the RV Aurora Australis in January-February 2016 by a number of Australian researchers from the Australian Antarctic Division, CSIRO, Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre and the Gateway Research Partnership (orange track Figure 1). This program will use CTD and trace metal casts along with float deployments for physical, biogeochemical and microbial sampling. Biota will be sampled by using underway active acoustics, a continuous plankton recorder, Rectangular Midwater Trawls and International Young Gadoid Pelagic Trawls with depth stratified codends. The three main aims are to determine the northern limit of Antarctic krill distribution, the relative importance of different environmental drivers of that distribution, and the relative importance of copepods and mesopelagic fish in different habitats for the pelagic food web within this region. The program will also provide a basis for determining the supply of iron to the biogeochemical cycles supported in this region and for assessing Antarctic Bottom Water and its flow up the eastern margin of the Kerguelen Plateau, around the Australian Antarctic Basin. In addition to these goals, the data collected will provide a foundation for identifying ecosystem essential ocean variables (eEOVs) for measuring ecosystem change in the region.
Five other marine science voyages will occur in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean in the same time frame as the RV Aurora Australis voyage (Figure 1). They will provide an excellent opportunity to enhance the physical, biogeochemical, active acoustic, and biological sampling. These other voyages include the RV Investigator (Australia – oceanography, biogeochemistry, acoustics, continuous plankton recorder, plankton), RV Umitaka Maru (Japan - oceanography, continuous plankton recorder), RV Hakuho Maru (Japan – physical oceanography), RV Marion Dufresne (France – physical oceanography, biogeochemistry, acoustics, continuous plankton recorder) and RV Roger Revelle (USA – physical and biogeochemical oceanography). More than 25 profiling floats will be deployed on the various voyages, including 17 biogeochemical floats deployed as part of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modelling (SOCCOM) program. The combined datasets will provide a unique multi-disciplinary snapshot of the physical, chemical and biological state of the Kerguelen Axis region. Comparison of these observations with past and future measurements will allow an assessment of change throughout the full ocean depth.
Data from this research will be synthesised and published in a series of special issues. The data will be made available through various portals; including the SOOS portal. The results from the RV Aurora Australis voyage will be made available through the Australian Antarctic Data Centre and, combined with the data from the RV Investigator, through the Integrated Marine Observing System. The conclusions of this research, including efficient designs for biological observing in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean, will be presented to the 2018 Conference on Marine Ecosystem Assessments of the Southern Ocean
Key Outputs
- Iron distributions in the vicinity of the Banzare Bank, Indian sector of the Southern Ocean: contrasts with sources around the northern Kerguelen plateau
- Biogeochemistry of micronutrient trace elements along the southern Kerguelen-axis, Southern Ocean
Inter-calibration efforts: Please provide details of how each element will be calibrated to meet the requirements of the GEOTRACES programme e.g. use of SaFe standards, collaborative sampling, cross-over stations (latitudes and longitudes of the cross over stations, the cruise which you are crossing with and the station numbers):
Use of SAFe and GEOTRACES standards
Duplicate samples collected for other labs to be analysed
Bowie lab has previously been intercalibrated (through cross-over and duplicate sampling)
Participating lab participated in earlier GEOTRACES intercalibration activities for dissolved trace elements, suspended marine particles and aerosols
No cross-over station was possible due to very dynamic oceanography on and around the Kerguelen plateau
List of parameters to be submitted to GDAC: Key parameters listed - please list any other parameters measured and the PI’s contact information associated with those parameters. Also include information in regards to the phase i.e. dissolved or particulate and how the samples were collected. i.e. Fe (dissolved)- CTD –Bottle or Fe (dissolved) – insitu pumps.
Could PI provide information on when samples are expected to be analysed so GDAC can estimate a data submission date
Trace elements:
X Fe
Al
X Zn
X Mn
X Cd
X Cu
X Pb
X Co
X Ni / Contact for each element (PI); [full name, organisation and email] N.B. please include all names and contact information associated with the measurement of each parameter (full name, institute and email address) as these will be referenced in the 2017 IDP and used on the GDAC webpage (http://www.bodc.ac.uk/geotraces/)
Andrew Bowie ()
Dissolved and particulate
Trace metal rosette TMR (General Oceanics Model 1018 with 12 x 5L Teflon-coated GO-FLO bottles)
/ Internationally calibrated (Yes or No)
YES / Expected date of analysis
31/12/2016
Radioactive isotopes:
230Th
231Pa
Other
Other
Other
Other
Stable isotopes:
d15N
d13C
X Fe / Andrew Bowie ()
TMR / NO / 30/6/2018
Radiogenic isotopes:
Nd isotopes
Pb isotopes
Other
NON TEI data set (add as required)
Other parameters:
Macronutrients (main CTD rosette)
Pigments (main CTD rosette)
Primary productivity (main CTD rosette)
Please refer to Voyage Report
List CTD hydrographic parameters [sensors including make/ model/ when last calibrated, salinity, temperature, oxygen, nutrients etc]
CTD: SBE9plus, CTD sensors last calibrated July 2015
Salinity calibrated with bottle measurements undertaken onboard
Dissolved oxygen – calibrated with Winkler titrations onboard
Fluorometer
Transmissometer
PAR
Particles/Aerosols:
---
List Underway data: [Met data, navigation hull mounted sensors including make and model]
PAR, air temperature, water temperature, pCO2, wind speed, wind direction, chlorophyll fluorescence, humidity, barometric pressure, acoustic data (3 frequencies)
Is there a national data centre: (name and contact) [If not then GDAC should be used]
Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston Tasmania 7050
AUSTRALIA
Email:
Other relevant information:
K-axis blog: http://k-axis.voyage/blogs/