Exploring the potential for commercial vessels to support science and observations in the Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean is a vast, unique and remote region that plays a fundamental role in global ocean circulation, climate and biodiversity. Understanding the ecosystems, processes and changes occurring in this region therefore has global implications. Despite this importance, the Southern Ocean remains severely under-observed and under-sampled due to its relative inaccessibility, which impacts the accuracy of global climate model projections and restricts our understanding of change on regional and local scales. Here we use a mixed-methods approach comprising semi-structured expert interviews and a community survey to explore the potential for utilising commercial vessels operating in the Southern Ocean as voluntary observation and scientific support platforms. We find that a wide range of data collection and scientific support methods are feasible to implement from commercial vessels, showing significant potential for these vessels as valuable components of wider, multi-platform Southern Ocean observing systems. These vessels would increase sustained, multidisciplinary regional data coverage and thus contribute to improving whole-system understanding. Despite this potential, there remain many challenges that currently impede the widespread use of these vessels within Southern Ocean observing systems. These challenges include lack of communication and trust between stakeholders, insufficient funding, time and capacity to coordinate this vision, and concerns around data quality. This article explores the current status of expert opinions and trends regarding the opportunities and challenges of integrating commercial vessels within Southern Ocean observing and scientific support networks and provides evidence-based recommendations for future progress in forming sustained partnerships and maximising the utility of commercial vessels.