CSIRO retrieve barnacle covered gliders from Southern Ocean uncovering something never seen before

Two barnacle covered gliders have uncovered a part of the Southern Ocean never seen by scientists before. Details >>

The RV Investigator crew prepares for departure to the Southern Ocean to study the world's strongest current that keeps Antarctica frozen, but is leaking water into the polar seas. Picture: Linda Higginson

What two barnacle covered gliders have uncovered has never been seen by scientists before.

The technology battled the world’s strongest current while investigating leaking warm water contributing to ice melt in Antarctica and was recently retrieved by the team on-board CSIRO’s research vessel Investigator.

The gliders were deployed last November, with scientists using the technology in combination with groundbreaking satellite technology, Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), to investigate eddies believed to be a gateway for heat leaking south.

“We were jumping up and down when they finally picked the gliders up, because it’s been a long time,” CSIRO glider pilot Dr Bea Pena-Molino said.

The gliders have been in the Southern Ocean for over four months, and travelled 3600km since being deployed to being retrieved.

CSIRO glider pilot Dr Bea Pena-Molino. Picture: CSIRO/Supplied

The team on-board CSIRO's research vessel Investigator have retried two gliders, which were investigating the world's strongest current, Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Picture: CSIRO/Supplied

“The data they produce, it’s really amazing. We’ve got to see things in the ocean that we hadn’t seen before,” Dr Pena-Molino said.

“The most exciting part for us is this combination with a new satellite technology.

“Some of the features that we’ve seen would have been invisible to us with traditional tools but with SWOT and the gliders, it’s zoomed into something that we haven’t seen before.”

CSIRO has collaborated with a team in the United States to pilot the two gliders 24 hours a day.

“When we took the ship out to deploy the glider, the ship can only be in one place at one time, and having little tools like these means that all of a sudden we can multiply that presence in the ocean,” Dr Pena-Molino said.

The team on-board CSIRO's research vessel Investigator have retried two gliders, which were investigating the world's strongest current, Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Picture: CSIRO/Supplied

Friday 10th November, Hobart Tasmania. The RV Investigator is prepared for departure to the Southern Ocean to study the world's strongest current that keeps Antarctica frozen, but is leaking water into the polar seas. Picture: Linda Higginson

“Having that broader view is something that this project has really benefited from.”

While it’s too early to have definitive results from extracting the data, Dr Pena-Molino said she expects to have some results by the end of the year.

“We’re really excited about trying to put the data and science in the bigger context and understanding what it means for the Southern Ocean as a whole,” she said.

“We’re now querying our models and asking if the models we use for climate capture the same physics? Are they right? When we go to these much finer details, do we get the same answer?”

On the same voyage last November, the team on-board the Investigator also discovered underwater volcanoes for the first time, while mapping the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

Originally published as CSIRO retrieve barnacle covered gliders from Southern Ocean uncovering something never seen before