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The South Atlantic Ocean plays a key role in global climate variability, oceanic biological productivity, biogeochemical cycles as well as the global ocean and atmospheric circulations. The South Atlantic connects the northern branch of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation to the Indian, Pacific and Southern oceans. It also hosts highly productive ecosystems, such as the Benguela Upwellling System, fuelled by cold, nutrient-rich waters. Nevertheless, the South Atlantic Ocean has received only a fraction of the scientific attention of its Northern Hemisphere counterpart, the North Atlantic Ocean – which is right on the doorstep of some of the wealthiest funders of scientific research, in North America and Europe. In this Collection, we firmly turn the attention to the Southern Hemisphere.
In addition to the articles we have invited and to address these diverse, unique, and interconnected research challenges, we welcome high-quality submissions spanning any aspect of ocean science in the South Atlantic Ocean. All submissions will be subject to the same review process and editorial standards as regular Communications Earth & Environment Articles.
This is an open Collection and submissions will be considered on a rolling basis.
The overturning circulation in the South Atlantic Ocean is driven by winds, pressure and density gradients, interocean exchanges, and eddies that vary spatially and temporally. A synthesis of observations reveals that waters that engage in this circulation are experiencing pronounced warming.
The South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation initiative began as a grassroots effort to study the South Atlantic Ocean and its impact on climate. This Comment discusses how, in striving towards this goal, it has also become a platform for the empowerment of women and international scientists.
Capacity building and engagement are crucial to support science-led sustainable ocean policies that are integrated, interdisciplinary and internationally collaborative as well as being effective at a range of temporal and spatial scales.
Water masses and depth are key determinants of deep-sea coral structure, abundance and taxonomic richness in the northern Santos Basin in the southwest Atlantic, suggest high resolution bathymetry and video surveys of the seafloor between 241 and 963 m depth off the coast of Brazil.
Mangrove, seagrass and saltmarsh ecosystems in the coastal Southwestern Atlantic store 0.4 Pg of organic carbon and annually sequester 0.5 to 3.9 Tg yr−1 of organic carbon indicating the importance of conserving these ecosystems to mitigate climate change, suggests a systematic review.
Large ensemble simulations project an intensification of the South Atlantic subtropical gyre with reduced water supply to the North Atlantic due to a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and changes in atmospheric forcing.
Agulhas leakage increased in the 1960s through the 1980s but, despite the continued strengthening of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies, has not substantially increased in the 1990s and 2000s, according to observation- and model-based estimates.
Increases in demersal species with higher temperature preferences in commercial catches landed in Brazil indicate tropicalization of demersal megafauna in the western South Atlantic since 2013, according to species composition and biomass analysis of 29,021 catches between 2000 and 2019.
Between 28 and 100% of nitrogen fixation in the South Atlantic occurs within the Angola Gyre and is potentially fuelled by supply of bioavailable iron from margin sediments and excess phosphorus, according to an analysis of observational hydrographic data and nitrate isotope ratios.