Heat and carbon uptake in the Southern Ocean: the state of the art and future priorities [Introduction]

The Southern Ocean is an extreme environment. The vast area it covers, roaring winds, mountainous seas and treacherous ice all combine to make it both a challenge and a privilege to study. While researchers no longer take their lives in their hands to travel to the Southern Ocean, as scientists and explorers did in earlier times, it still exerts an undeniable draw on us. It is perhaps fortunate that this draw does exist; research over the last several decades has steadily revealed that the Southern Ocean has an impact on our global climate far exceeding its area and belying its remote nature.