The South Atlantic Ocean is a key component of the global climate system, connecting the tropical Atlantic with the Southern Ocean and linking the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean basins. Its circulation mediates regional redistributions and inter-basin exchanges of heat and freshwater, as well as of carbon, oxygen, nutrients, and other tracers. These transports are shaped by interacting processes across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, including air-sea interactions, small-scale turbulence and mixing, mesoscale dynamics, boundary currents, and basin-scale overturning circulation. Moreover, the South Atlantic features intricate regional ocean circulation patterns, such as the Agulhas leakage, Benguela Upwelling System and the Brazil-Malvinas confluence zone. Together, these processes influence regional to global climate, extreme events, biogeochemical cycles, marine productivity, and ecosystem variability. Yet, understanding the natural seasonal to interannual variability of these processes and how they evolve under long-term climate change remains challenging, as observations are often still too sparse and model simulations can show contrasting behavior.
We invite contributions that advance our knowledge of South Atlantic ocean processes across spatial and temporal scales, based on observations, modelling, theory, and paleo-proxy approaches. Interdisciplinary process studies linking physical oceanography, biogeochemistry, and marine ecosystems are particularly encouraged.
We aim to foster exchange across disciplines, methods, regions, and career stages, strengthen collaborations within the South Atlantic scientific community, and promote discussions on future inclusive South Atlantic observing and modelling strategies. We seek to identify knowledge gaps and future research priorities.