National Institute of Polar Research

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Collaborative Research

Ecosystem Research in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean

Focusing on how the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean is changing and implications for the global system

Principal Investigator  Tsuneo Odate

Mysteries of east Antarctica

Process study involving cooperation with several survey ships

Monitoring of the Antarctic Ocean is necessary in order to detect signs of change in the global environment and evaluate the effects of the change on the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Because accessing West Antarctica is easier, most systematic approaches aimed at detecting changes in the environment have been taken in that region, especially in the Antarctic Peninsula region. The results of these studies indicate that the climate is changing rapidly and that the amount of winter sea ice has been decreasing around the Antarctic Peninsula region. However, the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition has routinely conducted oceanographic and biological surveys on the way to and from Syowa Station of East Antarctica during every austral summer since 1972. It also cooperates with survey ships from Japan and other countries, and carries out process studies concerned with environmental change in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean. The aim of this project is to promote analysis of samples and publication of observational data that were acquired from such observations, with a view to clarifying the features of the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean.

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