THIS PROPOSAL IS RELEVANT TO THE IDS PROGRAM IN THAT IT OFFERS A FUNDAMENTAL ADVANCE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EARTH SYSTEM BY MAKING NOVEL LINKAGES BETWEEN SOUTHERN OCEAN SEA ICE DISTRIBUTIONS PHYTOPLANKTON GROUPS AND AIR-SEA CARBON FLUX. WE WILL ALSO USE A VARIETY OF SATELLITE AND AIRBORNE IMAGERY INCLUDING: 1) SMMR-SSM/I 1979-PRESENT 2) AMSR-E/AMSR2 7/2012- PRESENT 3) HYPERSPECTRAL PRISM AIRBORNE IMAGERY 2016 4) MODIS/VIIRS/OLCI IMAGERY 5) SAR (E.G. SENTINEL-1). WE WILL EXPLORE HYPOTHESES RELATED TO THE ACTUAL TIMING OF THE ICE EDGE RETREAT AND CONCURRENT CLOUD COVER AND THE RATE OF ICE EDGE RETREAT IN RELATIONSHIP TO DAYLENGTH AND LIGHT AVAILABILITY AND SALINITY. OUR RESEARCH WILL ULTIMATELY IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROCESSES CONTRIBUTING TO INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY IN BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION AND AIR-SEA CO2 FLUX BOTH WITHIN THE SIZ AND THE BROADER SOUTHERN OCEAN.