Environmental Forcing and Southern Ocean Marine Predator Populations

The Southern Ocean (Figure 11.1) is a major component
within the global ocean and climate system. It not
only unites the Atlantic Ocean with the Indian and
Pacific Oceans, but also connects low tropical latitudes
with high polar latitudes. In addition, the Southern
Ocean is also the origin of important teleconnections
that link around the globe and across the equator into
the northern hemisphere. Consequently, and given this
unique global situation, there is now considerable concern
that significant changes to the Southern Ocean
(resulting from recent, rapid, regional warming) have
occurred over the past 50 years (King, 1994; Smith
et al., 1999; Levitus et al., 2000; Gille, 2002).