A new observing system for the Southern Ocean

The EU is funding the SYNCHRONY project, involving 27 international partners, to carry out coordinated observations, to harmonise data, and to improve our understanding and ability to predict climate and ecosystem changes around Antarctica

[Translate to English:] Polarstern-Winterexperiment — Waves (Photo: Alfred Wegener Institute / Mario Hoppmann)

The EU project SYNCHRONY will launch on August 1^st, 2026. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the rapid changes taking place in the complex system comprising the ocean, ice and atmosphere in the Southern Ocean and around the Antarctic ice shelves, as well as their impacts on the global climate and biodiversity. Led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, researchers from a total of 27 global partner institutions from around the world will work in interdisciplinary work packages to optimise and expand the existing observing system, harmonise data streams, and create new data products that document the state of the climate system and biodiversity. The project thus also provides an important foundation for the international UN Ocean Decade initiative Antarctica InSync and builds on existing research consortia. The EU will fund SYNCHRONY with around 8.5 million euros over the next four years.

The Southern Ocean and the Antarctic shelf seas have been undergoing massive changes for several years. Sea ice cover, for example, is declining dramatically, large parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet are being lost, and deep-water formation appears to be declining. “The full implications of these abrupt changes for the local and global climate and the ecosystems remain unclear. We are currently unable to predict these changes,” explains SYNCHRONY principal investigator Prof. Dr. Alexander Haumann, who heads the AWI-LMU Joint Research Group for Southern Ocean–Climate Interactions (SO-CLIM) at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and holds a professorship at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU). The oceanographer adds: “This knowledge gap is largely due to insufficient observational data and the inaccurate or missing representation of processes in Earth system models. Urgent action and enhanced international cooperation are therefore required not only to better observe and understand the complex changes in the coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere-biosphere system, but also to provide the basis for polictical decision-making that will protect this region in the long term.”

Joint cross-platform missions and circumpolar, multidisciplinary observation networks are indispensable for this effort in this vast and inaccessible region—yet they are still not available to a sufficient extent. Major international initiatives in the coming years will be key building blocks in closing this observational gap: Antarctica InSync (2027 to 2030), the 5th International Polar Year 2032/2033, and the implementation of the European Ocean Pact. They build on the existing efforts of networks such as SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) and SOOS (Southern Ocean Observing System).

SYNCHRONY will now be another crucial building block. The project aims to establish an internationally coordinated and synchronised observing system in the Southern Ocean and the coastal regions of Antarctica. It coordinates interdisciplinary activities that specifically contribute to Antarctica InSync.

The Antarctica InSync initiative was launched by several members of the Antarctic Treaty System. It forms part of the UN Ocean Decade and supports the UN 2030 Agenda, in particular Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13 and 14, which focus on measures to combat climate change and its impacts, as well as the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources. Between 2027 and 2029, Antarctica InSync will establish one of the largest observing networks ever set up in polar environments to assess the state of this rapidly changing environment and promote sustainable development.

“SYNCHRONY will expand and improve Antarctic observing networks, consolidate existing datasets, collect new ones and make them more accessible to the international research community. It will mark a milestone towards a comprehensive polar observing system. The resulting knowledge will help us to better understand the rapid changes in the region and make them more predictable,” says Prof. Dr. Stefanie Arndt, head of the AWI–University of Hamburg Joint Research Group on snow research on Antarctic sea ice (SNOWflAke) and co-principal investigator for the project. “This action-oriented knowledge will also form an important basis for policy decisions on the protection of the climate and biodiversity in the Southern Ocean and will support international intergovernmental bodies, the European Green Deal and the European Ocean Pact.”

The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) is coordinating the international research project SYNCHRONY. With five planned Polarstern cruise legs during the main observation period of Antarctica InSync (Antarctic summer 2027/28 to summer 2028/29), autonomous instruments, and the multidisciplinary HAFOS observatory in the Weddell Sea, the AWI is contributing key research infrastructure. Furthermore, it is taking on a leading role in establishing a dedicated observation network for sea ice, atmospheric, ecosystem and ocean research, in the harmonisation of polar research data, and in international coordination and science communication.

SYNCHRONY is funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement ID 101295248.

More information is given on the project website: https://www.synchrony-project.eu/

SYNCHRONY consortium:

Alfred Wegener Institute – Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Head of Partner, Germany
United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI-BAS), United Kingdom
Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), United Kingdom
Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Norway
ETT Spa (ETT), Italy
Mercator Ocean (MOI), France
Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare Associazione (CONISMA), Italy
European Polar Board (EPB), Sweden
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Belgium
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
National Oceanography Centre (NOC), United Kingdom
European Science Communication Institute GmbH (ESCI), Germany
University of Gothenburg (UGOT), Sweden
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Germany
The University of Edinburgh (UEDIN), United Kingdom
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa
University of Southampton (UoS), United Kingdom
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), South Korea
University of Otago (UO), New Zealand
University of Canterbury (UC), New Zealand
Euro-Argo ERIC (EURO-ARGO), France
Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), affiliated partner, France
Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), affiliated partner, Germany
University of Brest (UBO), affiliated partner, France
University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Norway