Multidisciplinary Underway Network

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (CMAR) will operate the network, using commercial shipping lines to add biogeochemical observations to the existing XBT lines.  This will improve coverage, enabling researchers to monitor the transport of mass, heat and freshwater in Australia’s major boundary currents and their relation to ecosystems. Biogeochemical sensors will be added to the National Marine Research Facility, RV Southern Surveyor to monitor the sensitivity of biogeochemical cycling to climate change, and to measure CO₂ uptake in critical areas. Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) devices, capable of recording species-level data of phytoplankton and zooplankton, will be installed on two lines to establish links between planktonic ecosystem structure and large-scale physical variability.  One line will run down the core of the East Australia Current and the second across the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. The State Government of Victoria recently enhanced this sub-facility to include an autonomous marine monitoring system on the Spirit of Tasmania 2. The sensors will record temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-a and turbidity.