The US CLIVAR/OCB Southern Ocean Working Group was formed in 2012 to identify critical observational targets and develop data/model metrics based on the currently available observational data, both physical and tracer, and the assimilative modeling (re)analyses, and evaluate and develop our understanding of the importance of mesoscale eddies in the heat and carbon uptake and of the response of the Southern Ocean to a changing climate, using high-resolution numerical studies and theory. The WG concluded their activities in 2015.

• Improve understanding of the role of mesoscale eddies in the heat and carbon uptake by the Southern Ocean.
• Improve understanding of how the Southern Ocean stratification, circulation and heat and carbon uptake will respond to a changing climate.