Region: Southern Ocean

Research and conservation in the Southern Ocean has never been more urgent. The region is home to some of the planet’s most bio-abundant marine ecosystems, including 10,000 endemic species. It occupies a quarter of the global ocean surface and plays an outsized role in regulating the Earth’s climate systems, absorbing 40% of anthropogenic carbon emissions and 72% of excess heat in the atmosphere yearly. The Southern Ocean’s biological systems largely enable this remarkable climate regulation. However, only 5% of the Southern Ocean is protected, and much of it remains understudied.

The Antarctic Peninsula, which borders the western edge of the Weddell Sea, has undergone some of the most rapid warming of any area on Earth, driving a massive loss of ice on land and at sea. This loss of ice coverage is reshaping the Weddell Sea’s marine communities by opening up newly ice-free areas for species to colonize and inhabit. However, scientific understanding of how Antarctic marine life is responding to this unprecedented warming is minimal.