CLASS
CLASS will deliver the knowledge and understanding of the Atlantic Ocean system that society needs to make evidence-based decisions regarding ocean management.
The ocean is fundamental to our world’s big environmental challenges, and these can only be tackled by science conducted over decades and across all the ocean basins. The work we undertake at the NOC seeks to advance the knowledge required to address these big challenges facing people and planet.
Securing and protecting ocean resources and ecosystems
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- Ocean resources include clean energy, food, and minerals.
- Clean ocean energy includes offshore wind, tidal and wave power generation.
- The ocean is a major food resource, and for over a billion people it is their primary source of animal protein; therefore understanding how fisheries will be impacted by global environmental change is vital for human life.
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- Biodiversity is decreasing across the planet including in the oceans, due to habitat loss, pollution, and over exploitation of resources.
- Ensuring these ecosystems are protected is vital for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 – conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
- The ocean, in particular the deep ocean, holds great potential for the development of medicines.
Protecting people and property from natural disasters and climate change
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- As sea level rises, low-lying coastal regions all over the world will be subject to ever more frequent extreme coastal flooding.
- Coastal flooding from storm surges is UK’s single biggest natural disaster risk, impacting over four million people.
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- Extreme weather systems, including hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones draw their energy from the warm surface layer of the ocean.
Understanding climate change and variability
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- The ocean has taken up 93% of excess heat in the earth’s system due to the radiation imbalance at the top of the atmosphere.
- The ocean strongly controls large scale areas of variability including El Niño and the North Atlantic Oscillation.
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- The ocean absorbs 25% of CO2 being emitted by fossil fuel burning and land use changes, mitigating global warming, but causing the oceans to become more acidic, especially in cold high latitudes.
- Securing and protecting ocean resources and ecosystems.