Joint research by the University of East Anglia and Hokkaido University into the changing Antarctic Ocean

Professor Shigeru Aoki, a researcher of the Antarctic Ocean at Hokkaido University, is currently engaged in collaborative research with Professor Karen Heywood, a world-leading scientist of Antarctic Ocean dynamics at the University of East Anglia (UEA), in Norwich. The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is delighted to have awarded him a Daiwa Foundation Small Grant.

Professor Aoki has kindly written about his research below.

 The Antarctic Ocean is currently undergoing rapid change. One of the significant changes is that the ocean freshening/freshwater component of the sea water is increasing. Several possible causes of the freshening have been identified including  increasing precipitation, a rise in the rate at which sea ice is melting and an acceleration in the melting of  continental ice.

Currently, researchers around the world are trying to understand the present situation and predict its future. We bring together our oxygen isotope data to determine the different levels of freshwater in sea ice and glacial ice, and to try to reveal what is happening and what is behind the emerging change.

Observation of the vast Antarctic Ocean cannot be accomplished by one nation alone. UK researchers have largely been contributing to the observations off  “West” Antarctica and a Japanese group has been observing “East” Antarctica. Hence, the UK and Japan are undertaking complementary research.

The enhanced collaboration between both countries will contribute to the establishment of the monitoring network of the Antarctic Ocean.