The Weddell Sea including the ocean off Dronning Maud Land is regionally representative for the high latitude Southern Ocean, due to its pronounced seasonality and circum-polar currents and it is unique for its deep-water formation and multi-year sea-ice cover. In addition, the Weddell Gyre connects water masses at the northern margin of the Southern Ocean (SO) in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) with those shaped by the large ice shelves and sea ice formation in the southern Weddell Sea. This hydrodynamic regime affects additional physical, geochemical and biological processes. A smaller proportion of the region in the western Weddell Sea is under climate-change stress, experiencing the disintegration of ice shelves and enhanced freshening due to ocean warming and changes in wind stress patterns. In the eastern part, however, the environment is relatively stable until recently but is still predicted to experience significant warming, sea-ice melting and loss of ice-shelf until the end of the century. The recent re-emergence of the Weddell Polynya in this region, for unknown reasons and with potentially significant impact to regional watermasses underscores the importance of observing and understanding this region.
The Weddell Sea and Dronning Maud Land (WS-DML) Working Group (WG) will facilitate coordinated and standardized observational studies of major physical, chemical and biological variables including their drivers and interactions. This refers to a regional but also a circum-Antarctic approach. The WS-DML WG will contribute to an increase in quality of the science output, and strengthen the awareness of the relevance of research in the WS-DML sector of the Southern Ocean through international projects contributing to the SOOS.
The Working Group is open for involvement to anyone working in the Weddell Sea and Dronning Maud Land region.
Two member positions are opening in the leadership group of the SOOS regional Working Group Weddell Sea and Dronning Maud Land (WS-DML).
The objective of our regional working group is to facilitate coordinated and standardized observational studies of major physical, chemical and biological variables including their drivers and interactions. The working group strives to increase the quality of the science output, and strengthen the awareness of the relevance of research in the WS-DML sector of the Southern Ocean through international projects contributing to SOOS.
Our leadership group is composed of:
Co-chairs:Â Laura de Steur (Norway), Sebastien Moreau (Norway), Markus Janout (Germany)
Leadership Group (LG) members:Â Mia Wege (South Africa), Andrew Meijers (United Kingdom), Jean-Baptiste Sallee (France), Sarah Fawcett (South Africa), Louise Biddle (Sweden), Uwe Nixdorf (COMNAP, Germany)
We are looking for 2 researchers with interests in the Weddell Sea and Dronning Maud Land, particularly in the research fields of biology, biogeochemistry and sea ice to complement the current LG and join actively in strategic leadership, planning activities, carry out communication and reporting, and driving the Working Group forward in accordance with the objectives of the SOOS 5-year implementation plan.
The appointment is initially for 3 years, with the possibly of a 2nd term or becoming one of the group’s co-chair after the initial term.
We strive to keep our gender balance and career-stage representation: we encourage female and male as well as early career and senior applications. We encourage applications from countries that are not presently represented in the leadership group (e.g., Brazil, Argentina, India).
The application deadline is September 15, 2020. Appointment shall start in fall 2020, at or shortly after our planned online workshop (20-23 October 2020).
To apply please send a 1 page document motivating your interest and a short CV (max 3 pages) to sebastien.moreau@npolar.no
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