Submarine data to aid climate science

The Ministry of Defence for the UK has announced that they will declassify submarine data in an attempt to allow scientists to better understand climate change in the Arctic. This will begin with one set of data from a single submarine mission, but could be expanded in future to give further detail on how the Arctic is changing.

Submarine environmental data are extremely sensitive to the navy, as they could give away positions of their subs. They offer a huge opportunity however, to understand better the change in the region, which is declining at a rapid rate.

Subs regularly monitor salt and water temperature as well as other important parameters, but the information is accessible to only a few select people, it is now beginning to be released to researchers at the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton. John Allen at the centre says that the measurements, while remaining unspecific on exact locations could be used to analyse physical attributes of the ocean, "If you look at a trace of temperature, you can see it wobbling around. But within that there will be particular length scales at which it wobbles, what we can do is to look at whether that changes depending on whether you are under ice or under open water."

With the ice at the Arctic shrinking dramatically in recent years, it is essential to understand the region better. Some climate models show the ice lingering on for some time, with more peaks and troughs before an eventual disappearance, but others say the region will be ice free in a decade. Either way, the release of important environmental data will be seen as a step forward for scientist trying to understand and model the region.