carbon

Optical data sheds light on global environmental change

A small copepod Microsetella (orange speck) feeding on a particle at 300m depth in the North Atlantic (photo: Klas Möller)

To understand the role of the ocean in global environmental change and to progress oceanography in developing countries the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) will be leading a working group aiming to build the world’s largest database on carbon flux measurements from optical sensors.

Storms fuel blooms of marine plants

Storm

Autumn storms help the ocean absorb atmospheric CO2 and stimulate marine life by ‘stirring-up’ the nutrients that feed blooms of tiny marine plants.

Scientists solve the riddle of deep ocean carbon

Vent chimney at the Von Damm vent site

A crucial process has been identified to explain the reason why dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels in the deep oceans are constant despite a continuous supply from the surface ocean. This research has been published today in the journal Nature Geoscience and was conducted by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and The University of Southampton.

A review of ten years of ocean carbon transport research

Working onboard RRS Discovery

Ten years of work into the transport of carbon from the surface ocean to the deep ocean interior, has been brought together in a landmark paper published in Geophysical Research Letters.