Southern Ocean Network of Acoustics (SONA)

南大洋进程与当今社会面临的一些最紧迫的挑战密切相关：气候变化、海洋酸化和海洋资源的可持续管理。为了应对这些挑战，我们需要更好地了解南大洋变化的自然原因和后果。持续观测的规模必须足够大，并通过国际合作加以维持，这将使我们能够衡量生态系统分布和功能的基线和未来趋势。南大洋声学网络（索纳）代表了一组科学研究所和工业合作伙伴，他们联合起来测量生态系统中采样不足的组成部分-中营养级，商定数据收集和处理的共同标准和协议，以期在开放获取的基础上提供该数据。南大洋占10%以上海洋是世界海洋的重要组成部分，在地球气候系统中发挥着关键作用。南大洋的变化具有全球影响。南大洋已经变暖，变淡，变得更加酸性，海洋环流模式已经改变。气候模型表明，随着海冰的减少和洋流的变化，它将继续变暖和清新。南大洋海洋生态系统的变化与这些变化有关。南大洋生态系统的结构和功能取决于南大洋独特的生境，其特点是季节性光照、低温、水化学、深度、洋流和海冰。气候变化对海洋生态系统结构和功能的潜在影响将取决于生物体对物理环境变化的敏感性。监测这种变化将取决于我们监测环境的能力。中营养级生物的大小从小型浮游生物（<2厘米）到较大的游泳动物（> 10厘米）不等，小型浮游生物随水流漂流，较大的游泳动物具有自由游泳的能力。它们是一个多样化的群体，包括鱿鱼、海鞘、磷虾和鱼类，在南大洋生态系统中发挥着关键作用。它们调节生物地球化学循环中的初级生产，是顶级掠食者（如企鹅、海豹和鲸鱼）的猎物。仅在南大洋，它们的生物量就相当于人类人口，在全球范围内，它们是地球上最大的未被捕捞的生物量。尽管它们发挥着关键作用，但它们仍然是生态系统中最不为人所知的组成部分之一。在南极海洋进行科学测量不是一项简单的任务，生物声学方法（利用声音测量水柱中的生物）是一种成本效益高、广泛使用（经常在研究和渔船上使用）的大规模方法，用于收集中营养级生物的信息。然而，为了使船舶之间的数据具有可比性，除了用验证程序界定测量值外，还需要标准和方案。索纳将制定这些标准，索纳将利用生物声学，每年沿着向南极研究基地和渔业地点的过境路线，在大的空间尺度上监测中营养生物。它将把来自研究和渔业船只的多国校准声学数据合并到一个共同的可访问数据库中。这些数据将为基于生态系统的渔业管理、海洋规划和监测气候变化的影响提供信息。最终，该项目将通过SENTINEL方案和南大洋观测系统向南极海洋生物资源保护委员会（南极海生委）等国际机构和气候与生态系统动力学综合方案等国际方案提供数据和知识，并为中营养级全球声学数据库提供路线图。

Southern ocean processes are intimately linked to some of the most pressing challenges faced by society today: climate change, ocean acidification and the sustainable management of marine resources. To address these challenges we need to improve our understanding of the natural causes and consequences of Southern Ocean change. Sustained observations, which can only be large enough and maintained through international collaboration, will enable us to measure the baseline and future trends in the distribution and function of the ecosystem. The Southern Ocean Network of Acoustics (SONA) represents a group of scientific institutes and industrial partners who have united to measure an under-sampled component of the ecosystem - the mid-trophic level - , to agree common standards and protocols for data collection and processing and with a view to provide that data on an open access basis.The Southern Ocean comprises more than 10% of the world's oceans and plays a critical role in the Earth's climate system. Changes in the Southern Ocean have global ramifications. The Southern Ocean has warmed, freshened, become more acidic and ocean circulation patterns have changed. Climate models suggest that it will continue to warm and freshen with less sea ice and changes in ocean currents. Changes in marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean have been linked to these changes. The structure and function of Southern Ocean ecosystems are dictated by the unique habitat that exists in the Southern Ocean defined by seasonal light, low temperatures, water chemistry, depth, currents and sea ice. Potential impacts of climate change on the structure and function of the marine ecosystem will depend upon the sensitivity of the organisms to change in the physical environment. Detecting that change will depend on our ability to monitor the environment.Mid-trophic level organisms range in size from small plankton (<2 cm), which drift with currents, to larger nekton (>10cm), which have the ability to swim freely. They are a diverse group that include squid, salps, krill and fish and play a critical role in Southern Ocean ecosystems. They regulate primary production involved in biogeochemical cycles and are prey for top predators (e.g. penguins, seals and whales). In the Southern Ocean alone they have a biomass equal to the human population, and globally they represent the largest unharvested biomass on the planet. Despite their pivotal role they remain one of the least known components of the ecosystem. Making scientific measurements in the Antarctic oceans is not a simple task and bio-acoustic methods (using sound to measure organisms in the water column) present a cost-effective, widely used (frequently found on research and fishing vessels), large scale method for collecting information on the mid-trophic level organisms. However, in order for data to be comparable between vessels, standards and protocols are required in addition to bounding measurements with validation procedures. SONA will set these standards.SONA will use bio-acoustics to monitor mid-trophic organisms at large spatial scales annually along transits to Antarctic research bases and fisheries sites. It will unite multi-national calibrated acoustic data from both research and fisheries vessels into a common accessible database. This data will inform on ecosystem based fisheries management, marine planning and monitoring impacts of climate change. Ultimately the project will input data and knowledge to international bodies such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and international programmes such as Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics (ICED) through the SENTINEL programme and the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) and provide a road map for a global acoustic database of the mid-trophic level.