Examining the vulnerability of ocean carbon biogeochemistry in a high CO2 world. Rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere from human activity is changing the biogeochemistry of the ocean, with large potential consequences on future atmospheric CO2. This work will explore these changes and will result in a more complete understanding of how the ocean will either accelerate or delay the increase in atmospheric CO2.
Quantifying the role of the Southern Ocean for anthropogenic CO2 uptake. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas contributing to global warming and climate change. Climate change is likely to have dramatic economic and environmental consequences for Australia. Knowledge and understanding of the complex carbon cycle is fundamental for predicting future atmospheric CO2 levels and managing climate change. The aim of the work proposed here is to quantify and improve our understan ....Quantifying the role of the Southern Ocean for anthropogenic CO2 uptake. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas contributing to global warming and climate change. Climate change is likely to have dramatic economic and environmental consequences for Australia. Knowledge and understanding of the complex carbon cycle is fundamental for predicting future atmospheric CO2 levels and managing climate change. The aim of the work proposed here is to quantify and improve our understanding of the oceans role in controlling atmospheric CO2 levels. This will be done by combining modeling and observational expertise among UNSW and CSIRO (Marine Research) researchers. Our work will be the first to assess the extent of which the Southern Ocean (and Australian waters) acts as a carbon sink. This will reduce modeling uncertainties in predicting future atmospheric CO2 levels and will also be valuable to the federal government in future international negotiations on climate change.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989731
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,000.00
Summary
Instrumentation for Innovative Marine Biogeochemistry. Rising greenhouse gases are changing the chemistry of the oceans, by altering the availability of nutrients and causing ocean acidification. Along with local pollutants, these changes pose significant threats to the productivity and sustainability of Australia's marine ecosystems. The proposed instrumentation will support world-leading research into the nature, impact, and potential for mitigating these changes. This will underpin our abilit ....Instrumentation for Innovative Marine Biogeochemistry. Rising greenhouse gases are changing the chemistry of the oceans, by altering the availability of nutrients and causing ocean acidification. Along with local pollutants, these changes pose significant threats to the productivity and sustainability of Australia's marine ecosystems. The proposed instrumentation will support world-leading research into the nature, impact, and potential for mitigating these changes. This will underpin our ability to manage and preserve the environmental, societal and economic values of our coastal and open ocean marine resources.Read moreRead less
Southern Ocean nutrients and their links to climate change: insights from the isotope and elemental signature of diatoms and sponges. It is not possible to respond effectively to climate change and variability associated with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide without understanding the role that marine phytoplankton play in the uptake and sequestering of carbon dioxide. The proposed research will lead to a greater understanding of how nutrients such as silica have limited phytoplankton grow ....Southern Ocean nutrients and their links to climate change: insights from the isotope and elemental signature of diatoms and sponges. It is not possible to respond effectively to climate change and variability associated with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide without understanding the role that marine phytoplankton play in the uptake and sequestering of carbon dioxide. The proposed research will lead to a greater understanding of how nutrients such as silica have limited phytoplankton growth, and ultimately the role the ocean plays in the sequestration of carbon dioxide over time. Such knowledge will benefit possible ocean-based carbon dioxide mitigation strategies, i.e. ocean fertilisation to stimulate ocean productivity and carbon dioxide drawdown.Read moreRead less
Deciphering strategies polar phytoplankton employ to lessen iron limitation. The Southern Ocean is of global importance. It comprises one-third of the global ocean by area and disproportionately absorbs two-thirds of anthropogenic ocean heat and half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions even though phytoplankton in this region are chronically iron-limited. This project aims to understand why copper uptake by phytoplankton lessens the effects of iron limitation and how copper substitut ....Deciphering strategies polar phytoplankton employ to lessen iron limitation. The Southern Ocean is of global importance. It comprises one-third of the global ocean by area and disproportionately absorbs two-thirds of anthropogenic ocean heat and half of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions even though phytoplankton in this region are chronically iron-limited. This project aims to understand why copper uptake by phytoplankton lessens the effects of iron limitation and how copper substitutes for iron. This knowledge is critical for evaluating the impacts and feedbacks between iron and copper in regulating Southern Ocean productivity and ultimately its ability to drawdown atmospheric CO2. The results from this project will facilitate the development of improved ecosystem models and conservation tools.Read moreRead less
Ocean Acidification in a Rapidly Increasing CO2 World. Carbon dioxide not only acts as a greenhouse gas but is being dissolved at increasing rates into the surface waters of the world's oceans, causing ocean acidity. We will examine how the rapidly increasing trend towards acidity in the oceans surrounding Australia is effecting the ability of marine organisms to calcify and determine the rate at which the world's ocean sink for CO2 is being reduced. New constraints will be placed on the critica ....Ocean Acidification in a Rapidly Increasing CO2 World. Carbon dioxide not only acts as a greenhouse gas but is being dissolved at increasing rates into the surface waters of the world's oceans, causing ocean acidity. We will examine how the rapidly increasing trend towards acidity in the oceans surrounding Australia is effecting the ability of marine organisms to calcify and determine the rate at which the world's ocean sink for CO2 is being reduced. New constraints will be placed on the critical threshold limits of CO2 emissions for sustainable calcification in both shallow tropical and deep-water marine ecosystems of the Southern Oceans.Read moreRead less
Bubble, Bubble CO2 is the trouble: A Natural Ocean Acidification Experiment in a coral reef setting. Carbon dioxide seep sites expose shallow coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to volcanic carbon dioxide resulting in gradients of seawater ranging from pH 8.0 (normal) to a more acidic pH of 7.5. Some areas of these reefs experience carbon dioxide exposure equivalent to IPCC predictions for 2050 and 2100. This project will reconstruct seawater pH using radiocarbon as a novel tracer of carbon dioxide ....Bubble, Bubble CO2 is the trouble: A Natural Ocean Acidification Experiment in a coral reef setting. Carbon dioxide seep sites expose shallow coral reefs in Papua New Guinea to volcanic carbon dioxide resulting in gradients of seawater ranging from pH 8.0 (normal) to a more acidic pH of 7.5. Some areas of these reefs experience carbon dioxide exposure equivalent to IPCC predictions for 2050 and 2100. This project will reconstruct seawater pH using radiocarbon as a novel tracer of carbon dioxide input at a coral reef site that has been exposed to high carbon dioxide due to volcanic seeps (seep carbon dioxide has no carbon-14) for an unknown period of time (at least many decades, but possibly centuries). These results will help to understand the time it takes to change calcifying organisms into “winners” or “losers” as an analog for Ocean Acidification due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide input.Read moreRead less
DEEP SEA CORALS AS HIGH RESOLUTION RECORDERS OF SOUTHERN OCEAN NUTRIENT CHEMISTRY AND CIRCULATION. There is compelling evidence that the Earth has been warming dramatically since the end of the 19th century as a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2. This study aims to understand the long-term role of the Southern Ocean as a 'store-house' for CO2, and its significance in controlling changes in the Earth's climate. We will use coral skeletons from the deep oceans as archives of ocean circu ....DEEP SEA CORALS AS HIGH RESOLUTION RECORDERS OF SOUTHERN OCEAN NUTRIENT CHEMISTRY AND CIRCULATION. There is compelling evidence that the Earth has been warming dramatically since the end of the 19th century as a consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2. This study aims to understand the long-term role of the Southern Ocean as a 'store-house' for CO2, and its significance in controlling changes in the Earth's climate. We will use coral skeletons from the deep oceans as archives of ocean circulation and nutrient levels. This information will help unravel how biological activity in the Southern Ocean has responded during previous episodes of climate change, and how this has controlled the levels of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. This will provide a better understanding of greenhouse warming and its effect on our future climate.Read moreRead less
A changing climate for calcification on the Great Barrier Reef: past, present and future. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a national and international icon, recognised through its inscription as a World Heritage Area and economic and social value to Australians. Maintenance of the GBR as we know it is now compromised by a rapidly changing climate. Ocean acidification, warming water temperatures and increased freshwater will progressively be detrimental to the fundamental reef-building process ....A changing climate for calcification on the Great Barrier Reef: past, present and future. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a national and international icon, recognised through its inscription as a World Heritage Area and economic and social value to Australians. Maintenance of the GBR as we know it is now compromised by a rapidly changing climate. Ocean acidification, warming water temperatures and increased freshwater will progressively be detrimental to the fundamental reef-building process of calcification. Informed policy and management strategies in a rapidly changing physical environment require determination, for short and long time frames, of the regional consequences and impacts of changing reef-building capacity.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989608
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$190,000.00
Summary
The Heron Island Climate Change Observatory: An In-Situ Ocean Acidification and Carbonate Chemistry Monitoring Platform. Climate change and ocean acidification are widely recognized as key threats to Australia's natural ecosystems, yet we are currently ill-equipped to respond due to poor knowledge of the scale/nature of the impacts. The Heron Island Climate Change Observatory will establish key infrastructure that will rapidly improve our understanding of the impacts of ocean acidification whic ....The Heron Island Climate Change Observatory: An In-Situ Ocean Acidification and Carbonate Chemistry Monitoring Platform. Climate change and ocean acidification are widely recognized as key threats to Australia's natural ecosystems, yet we are currently ill-equipped to respond due to poor knowledge of the scale/nature of the impacts. The Heron Island Climate Change Observatory will establish key infrastructure that will rapidly improve our understanding of the impacts of ocean acidification which is important to local communities and the nation given that coral reefs support over $6 billion in revenue (and employ 60,000 people) each year. This critically important information is essential to the management and protection of Australia's coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef.
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