The MORSea (Marine Observatory in the Ross Sea), project funded by P.N.R.A.(National Research Program in Antarctica), focuses on the management of the marine observatory established since 1994 in the Ross Sea in the framework of CLIMA (Climatic Long-term Interaction for Mass balance in Antarctica p.i. G. Spezie) and ABIOCLEAR (Antartic BIOgeochemical cycles-Climatic and. palEoclimAtic Recostructions p.i. M. Ravaioli) projects. After the ending of these projects in 2010, the National Scientific Commission for Antarctica (CSNA) highlighted the importance of supporting activities connected to a network of four moorings in the Ross Sea. The moorings, previously named B, D, G and L, play an important role in the study of climate change and the interannual variability of the physical and biogeochemical processes in the water column.
Mooring activities have recently been associated to other oceanographic measurements conducted on the basis of the "ship of opportunity" concept. Measurements of sea surface temperature and salinity (SST and SSS respectively), launches of XBT and XCTD probes, deployment of drifters and floats have been carried on without any need of additional ship-time.
All these activities were conducted up to 2009 in the framework of previous PNRA project as CLIMA and Southern Ocean Chokepoints Italian Contribution (SOChIC) and during last years have been introduced in the MORSea project in order to keep the continuity of the precious time series acquired since 1994
In Italy the project activities essentially concern the validation and analysis of the acquired data and the dissemination of scientific results achieved.