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MBARI research and technology play integral role in new Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences

Press Release

From mapping the Arctic seafloor to surveying biodiversity around Antarctica, MBARI’s advanced underwater technology is helping researchers around the world study polar environments. Image: Dave Caress © 2022 MBARI

MBARI research and technology play integral role in new Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences

International collaborations leverage MBARI’s expertise and advanced technology to better understand polar ecosystems.

Why It Matters

MBARI research and technology are helping scientists answer fundamental questions about polar environments and other components of the cryosphere. This information can help resource managers and policymakers make decisions about the future of this important ecosystem.

This year marks the opening of the United Nations Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences, an international initiative focused on the rapid changes occurring in glaciers, snow cover, ice sheets, sea ice, and permafrost and their impacts on the planet. MBARI’s cutting-edge research and technology will play a critical role in this effort, providing important data about the Arctic seafloor and the Southern Ocean.

“Ice-covered ocean and land are integral to the health of our planet and host unique communities of life. The Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences provides an opportunity to collaborate to better understand and protect these critically important polar environments. As a leader in ocean science and engineering, MBARI is well-positioned to play a major role in international efforts to take the pulse of polar regions and help discovery in uncharted waters,” said MBARI President and CEO Antje Boetius, a global leader in polar research.

Snapshots of MBARI’s work in the Arctic and Southern Ocean:

Investigating changes to the Arctic seafloor

Marine operations crew members recover a mapping robot from a mission in the Arctic Ocean. The crew members are standing on the green metal deck of a research ship on the right side of the frame. They are wearing hard hats, heavy work jackets, and dark pants. The robot on the left side of the frame has a thin cylindrical shape and is yellow with a black tail cone. The robot is connected to a nylon rope and crane off-screen at the top of the frame. The background is flat gray-blue ocean.
Repeated surveys with MBARI’s seafloor mapping autonomous underwater vehicles have revealed the unique terrain at the edge of the continental shelf in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, including the rapid formation of massive craters and large mounds. Image: Dave Caress © 2017 MBARI

Scientists have only recently been able to access the seafloor at the edge of the Canadian Arctic due to climate change impacts on sea ice.

Researchers have used MBARI’s autonomous underwater vehicles to conduct mapping surveys of the seafloor in this region, revealing remarkably complex underwater terrain. Data show dynamic and dramatic changes to the seafloor caused by the melting of ancient submerged permafrost as well as current cycles of melting and freezing seawater. MBARI’s research can help guide policymakers’ decisions about underwater infrastructure in the Arctic. This summer, MBARI researchers will return to the Canadian Beaufort Sea to continue this work.

MBARI’s collaborators on this body of work include researchers at the Geological Survey of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Korean Polar Research Institute, and the US Naval Research Laboratory.

Monitoring carbon and climate in the Southern Ocean

Three researchers prepare to launch a robotic BGC-Argo float. The researcher on the left is wearing a blue hard hat, an orange-and-black jacket, tan pants, and brown rubber boots, and holding a spool of white rope. The researcher in the center is wearing a blue hard hat, an orange life vest, a green jacket, orange-and-black pants, and brown rubber boots, and holding a white rope. The researcher on the right is wearing glasses, an orange hard hat, a navy blue jacket, tan pants, and black rubber boots, and holding the robotic float. The robotic float is a bright yellow thin plastic cylinder decorated with black paw prints with gray scientific instruments at the top. The researchers are standing on the green metal deck of a research ship against an orange metal railing. The background is clear, light-blue sky.
Robotic floats equipped with chemical sensors developed by MBARI researchers drift with ocean currents, moving up and down the water column every 10 days and collecting data about ocean conditions that they transmit to researchers via a satellite connection. Image courtesy of SOCCOM

MBARI is part of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) project, an international, multi-institutional effort to help researchers better understand the Southern Ocean, one of the most challenging regions to study on the planet.

SOCCOM uses robotic BGC-Argo floats with advanced sensors developed by MBARI researchers to continuously log data about ocean conditions, including chemistry and productivity. There are currently more than 100 SOCCOM floats operating in the Southern Ocean. SOCCOM data are publicly available, allowing researchers around the world to access this remote part of the world. MBARI also leads SOCCOM’s outreach efforts, including a program to bring live data from SOCCOM’s robotic floats to the classroom.

Studying seafloor processes in Antarctica

Two researchers wearing orange jackets and black nylon pants process water samples aboard a black Zodiac boat. The researcher on the right is holding a gray canister of water and a spool of orange cable. The researcher on the left is collecting water from the gray canister in two white plastic bottles. In the background are blue water and blue sky with large white icebergs on the horizon.
During an expedition to Antarctica in 2024, MBARI researchers and collaborators deployed instruments to assess submarine groundwater discharge, collecting video observations of the seafloor and water samples for further analysis. Image: Aaron Micallef © 2024 MBARI

The flow of water from the seafloor to the ocean at the land-sea interface—known as submarine groundwater discharge—plays an important role in ocean biogeochemistry, marine ecology, and seafloor geology. This process has been challenging to study in Antarctica, where climate change is likely causing fresh to brackish water to leak from the seafloor. 

MBARI researchers are working to quantify submarine groundwater discharge along the Antarctic Peninsula and understand its environmental impacts. Preliminary findings suggest submarine groundwater discharge occurs at a higher rate in Antarctica than at similar depths in temperate environments, and this research will help refine future climate models at regional scales.

Assessing the biodiversity of the Southern Ocean

Two researchers wearing bright orange work vests prepare a scientific instrument in the lab aboard a research vessel. In the foreground is an MBARI Environmental Sample Processor instrument. In the background are beige walls of a scientific lab.
Researchers from the Australian Antarctic Program leveraged MBARI’s ESP technology to collect eDNA samples in the Southern Ocean that will help scientists survey the biodiversity of this remote environment. Image: Jim Birch © 2025 MBARI

Environmental DNA (eDNA) allows scientists to detect the presence of organisms from the tiny bits of genetic material—cells, skin, waste, and mucus—they leave behind. eDNA provides a powerful tool for assessing the biodiversity of aquatic environments.

MBARI’s Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) and Filtering Instrument for DNA Observations (FIDO) allow researchers to collect and study eDNA in remote environments. Earlier this year, MBARI, in collaboration with the Australian Antarctic Program, sent ESP and FIDO instruments on the research icebreaker Nuyina on an expedition to the Denman Glacier region in East Antarctica to evaluate applications for this eDNA technology in the Southern Ocean.

 

For additional information or images relating to this article, please email pressroom@mbari.org.

MBARI Team

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