Activities of the training vessel Umitaka-maru (KARE-17; UM-13-09) of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology during the 55th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in 2013/2014

Abstract

A marine science cruise was undertaken in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean during the 2012/2013 austral summer on the training vessel Umitaka-maru (KARE-17; UM-13-09) of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT). ＂Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) Routine Observation: Physical and Chemical Oceanography＂, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, was conducted as a TUMSAT and National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) collaborative project. The TUMSAT-NIPR collaborative programs, ＂Studies on Plankton Community Structure and Environment Parameters in the Southern Ocean＂ and ＂Marine Ecosystem Monitoring＂ (the JARE phase VIII projects), and ＂Environment and Ecosystem Changes in the Southern Ocean＂ were conducted. In addition to these TUMSAT-NIPR collaborative programs, the other phase VIII project, ＂ Responses of Antarctic Marine Ecosystems to Global Environmental Changes with Carbonate Systems＂, and the TUMSAT and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) collaborative program ＂Deployment of Deep Ninja＂ was conducted. The Umitaka-maru departed from Fremantle, Australia, on 11 January 2014, sailed to the study area around the marginal sea ice zone along 110°E, and returned to Hobart, Australia, on 5 February 2014. Physical and chemical Oceanographic observations, using a CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth profiler) deployed to near the seafloor in the marginal ice zone revealed detail property of the Antarctic bottom water. For the other phase VIII projects, participants performed various net castings to qualitatively evaluate the vertical distribution of plankton communities, retrieved the drifting buoy, which was released by the ice breaker Shirase, and recovered and redeployed year-around moorings to detect the dynamics of ecosystem and Antarctic bottom water.