Australia's CSIRO has deployed wind and solar powered uncrewed surface vehicles from Hobart to measure carbon dioxide absorption in the Southern Ocean. The drones will run quarterly for five years, covering about 22,000 km per trip in waters where ships rarely go, giving scientists year-round data on ocean carbon sinks. The Southern Ocean accounts for about 40 percent of global ocean CO2 uptake, so this data directly improves estimates in the annual Global Carbon Budget. The project partners with NOAA and South Africa's Southern Ocean Carbon-Climate Observatory to fill gaps in atmospheric CO2, temperature, salinity, and oxygen readings. Better measurements of ocean carbon sinks matter for climate models and carbon accounting. If we can quantify how much CO2 the ocean actually removes, we can tighten national emissions estimates and improve baseline data for marine carbon projects.
