RV Investigator in the Southern Ocean

In January 2015, scientists commissioned Australia’s first permanent ship-based labs to study the influence of both natural ocean emissions and human emissions on the composition of air over the Southern Ocean.

The research will generate the most complete picture of the atmosphere over the Southern Ocean to date, and improve our ability to predict future changes to Australian weather and climate by measuring the smallest of atmospheric particles - with a diameter less than a thousandth of a human hair - which have a profound influence on both human health and climate.

Scientists from QUT, the University of Melbourne, CSIRO and University of Wollongong were on board CSIRO’s new $120 million research vessel Investigator, which ventured to Antarctica’s ice edge (65 degrees South) to test how the vessel and its systems performed in frigid water temperatures.

The unique data sets these laboratories will provide will give the most complete picture of the atmosphere over the Southern Ocean and significantly improve our ability to predict future changes to Australian weather and climate. Ten meteorological balloons were deployed from the ship in the demanding conditions of the Southern Ocean.

Video transcript available here: http://www.csiro.au/Youtube/RV%20Inve...