carbon

New EU project launched to evaluate mechanisms for using the ocean to remove atmospheric CO2

  • Four-year project will investigate whether storing CO2 in the ocean is environmentally safe, socially acceptable and economically viable
  • Oceans offer huge potential to act as enhanced sinks for atmospheric CO2 and support global climate targets

Scientist Spotlight – Meet Biological Oceanographer Dr Nathan Briggs

Dr Nathan Briggs

Our ocean offers a potential buffer against climate change. It takes up and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a process known as the biological carbon pump. Without life in the ocean providing this pump scientists think atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations could be 50% higher than they are even now.

The role of land-ocean carbon export in emitting greenhouse gasses highlighted

This week, scientists from the NOC attended the annual ICOS Science Conference, which brought together over 1000 researchers working to measure greenhouse gas emissions across Europe.

The importance of the North West European shelf sea in storing carbon is revealed

Carbon budget

The first large-scale synthesis of the carbon budget in the shallow seas of the North West European shelf estimates that around 40% of the carbon entering the seas comes from the atmosphere and the rest comes from the land.

Previously hidden process limits the oceans’ capacity to absorb carbon dioxide

New research, published in Science, shows sinking organic particles known as “marine snow” are breaking apart at high rates in the ocean.

Research expedition will study carbon in Atlantic Ocean ‘deserts’

On Sunday 13 October the RRS Discovery sailed from Southampton to Punta Arenas, in Chile, as part of the annual Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) research expedition.

International collaborative expedition to shed light on microplastics and ocean carbon

On Friday 14 April the RRS Discovery will leave Southampton for a research expedition to the Porcupine Abyssal Plain sustained ocean observatory (PAP-SO) in the Northeast Atlantic.

Zooplankton behaviour helps solve a carbon cycle mystery

Dr Emma Cavan

A key piece of the carbon cycle puzzle has been solved by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), with the discovery of the mechanism underpinning more efficient carbon transfer in low oxygen zones.

NOC hosts an international meeting to get the most from marine optical technologies

The TOMCAT team

Leading scientists from across the world travelled to NOC for the first TOMCAT working group meeting.

This group aims to take advantage of the fast development of optical technologies to help progress understanding of the ocean carbon cycle, which determines CO2 levels in the ocean and atmosphere, using large data sets describing particles in the ocean.

Ground-breaking CCS project

CCS infographic from Shell

The world’s first ‘real world’ deep-water controlled experiment simulating emission from a submerged carbon dioxide storage reservoir is to take place in the North Sea, with the aim of further verifying the safety of offshore carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS).