Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is one of the most important species on Earth. As a keystone of the Southern Ocean food web, krill supports everything from whales and penguins to a growing commercial fishery — and plays a significant role in the global carbon cycle. Yet we still have large gaps in our understanding of what controls where krill are found, and in what quantities.
The K-POD project investigates how ocean currents, climate patterns and predators — particularly the rapidly recovering populations of baleen whales — together shape krill distribution in the South Orkney Islands region of Antarctica. This area is one of the most important hotspots for krill in the Southern Ocean, and also one of the least studied in terms of its complex oceanography.
In the project, researchers combine ship-based and moored instruments, underwater gliders, aerial drones, animal-borne dataloggers on whales, and advanced ocean models to study the physical and biological processes at work. A key question is how much krill is found at depths below what standard surveys measure — and what this means for biomass estimates used in fisheries management. The project also examines how whales, by feeding at depth and surfacing to excrete, may recycle nutrients back into surface waters, supporting primary production and influencing the marine carbon cycle.
K-POD is important because the Southern Ocean is under pressure from climate change, and sustainable management of Antarctic krill — a resource Norway is heavily involved in harvesting — depends on a much better understanding of what drives krill abundance and distribution. The project contributes directly to ecosystem-based fisheries management and to Norway's obligations under international frameworks such as CCAMLR, the UN Ocean Decade, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
K-POD runs from 2025 to 2027 and is funded by the Research Council of Norway. It is led by the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), with NORCE as a key partner alongside the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of Tromsø (UiT). Dr Andreas Klocker at NORCE leads Work Package 3, which focuses on connecting ocean dynamics to krill distribution using numerical models and field observations.
