Image Highlight: Fostering School Ties

The Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) Program at Princeton University is at the helm of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) Project, a collaborative effort to understand the Southern Ocean's role in climate change.

Led by Professor Jorge Sarmiento until his retirement in 2023, the SOCCOM project now falls under the responsible leadership of Professor Daniel Sigman, both of whom are part of the AOS Program at Princeton University.

The SOCCOM project, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is currently deploying biogeochemical sensor floats in the Southern Ocean. John Ballard, a chemist with Scripps Oceanography's Oceanographic Data Facility, and Isabel Seguro, senior research associate at the Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS) at the University of East Anglia, are among the team members involved in this deployment.

The deployment is taking place aboard RRS James Clark Ross, with Seguro sharing photos of the floats on her Twitter feed. The Adopt-a-Float program allows elementary and high school science classes to adopt and follow individual floats, creating an engaging learning experience.

One such float, nicknamed "The Okie Pearl", is being decorated for Curtis Inge Middle School in Noble, Oklahoma as part of SOCCOM's Adopt-a-Float program. Lynne Talley, from Scripps Oceanography, heads the observational team of the Princeton-lead SOCCOM project, with Scripps technicians and students often participating in the SOCCOM cruises.

The SOCCOM project is focused on unraveling the mysteries of the Southern Ocean and determining its influence on climate. A related Image Gallery is available for Photo of the Week 2018, offering a glimpse into this exciting research. The project is a significant part of the observational team's efforts to unlock the secrets of the Southern Ocean and understand its impact on our climate.