Eddies: The key to understanding Southern Ocean carbon cycling. This project plans to observe an eddy in the Southern Ocean for three weeks, to understand how its circulation affects ocean productivity and the exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and atmosphere. Ocean eddies are like small high and low pressure weather systems which spin either clockwise or anticlockwise, are about 100–200 kilometres across and several hundred metres deep. Eddies are important because they generate verti ....Eddies: The key to understanding Southern Ocean carbon cycling. This project plans to observe an eddy in the Southern Ocean for three weeks, to understand how its circulation affects ocean productivity and the exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and atmosphere. Ocean eddies are like small high and low pressure weather systems which spin either clockwise or anticlockwise, are about 100–200 kilometres across and several hundred metres deep. Eddies are important because they generate vertical currents that move nutrients and carbon dioxide up and down. Expected project outcomes will include a better understanding of carbon cycling in an ocean region that is central to the climate of Australia and the rest of the planet.Read moreRead less
Changes in the ocean's biological pump: innovative models and diagnostics. This Project aims to quantify how the ocean’s biological pump, which exports newly formed organic matter into the ocean interior, responds to environmental change. The biological pump is a key control on the global carbon and oxygen cycles, and hence on the viability of marine life. New, efficient numerical models will be developed and analysed with highly innovative mathematical methods. Expected outcomes are optimised .... Changes in the ocean's biological pump: innovative models and diagnostics. This Project aims to quantify how the ocean’s biological pump, which exports newly formed organic matter into the ocean interior, responds to environmental change. The biological pump is a key control on the global carbon and oxygen cycles, and hence on the viability of marine life. New, efficient numerical models will be developed and analysed with highly innovative mathematical methods. Expected outcomes are optimised predictive models and a new understanding of the possible future evolutions of the ocean carbon cycle, acidification, and oxygenation. This should provide significant benefits such as predictions of future ocean health, identification of processes that are sensitive to change, and strategies for marine resource management.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989539
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$250,000.00
Summary
Purchase of a state-of-the-art high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. This new state-of-the-art mass spectrometer with enhanced capability will allow Tasmanian researchers to accurately determine the elemental composition of their samples of interest. The instrument will be extremely sensitive and will be able to detect elements to very low concentrations. It will be used to support a diverse range of local research projects of international significance, for example the ....Purchase of a state-of-the-art high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. This new state-of-the-art mass spectrometer with enhanced capability will allow Tasmanian researchers to accurately determine the elemental composition of their samples of interest. The instrument will be extremely sensitive and will be able to detect elements to very low concentrations. It will be used to support a diverse range of local research projects of international significance, for example the environmental assessment of clean and contaminated sites, chemical synthesis on a miniature scale using micro-chips, and the monitoring of selected elements of key importance for human health.Read moreRead less
Dust to the ocean: Does it really increase productivity? This project aims to investigate the relationship between dust deposition and marine productivity. This project will quantify dust deposition to the ocean and its chemical and ecological impact by using new geochemical techniques and novel approaches with autonomous ocean sensors. Expected outcomes of this project include improved estimates of dust deposition to the ocean and the development of globally-applicable methods for quantifying t ....Dust to the ocean: Does it really increase productivity? This project aims to investigate the relationship between dust deposition and marine productivity. This project will quantify dust deposition to the ocean and its chemical and ecological impact by using new geochemical techniques and novel approaches with autonomous ocean sensors. Expected outcomes of this project include improved estimates of dust deposition to the ocean and the development of globally-applicable methods for quantifying the link between dust and biology using profiling floats. This should provide significant benefits such as improved dust models used to predict future changes in nutrient deposition, with implications for predicting future ocean fish production and carbon uptake.Read moreRead less
Southern Ocean productivity and carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange under current and future climate regimes. This project will contribute to Australian ocean science expertise in key areas of data synthesis, satellite oceanography and the understanding of marine ecosystems' response to climate change. Collaborations will be developed and strengthened among Australian research institutions, and between Australia and the United States. The focus of the research is the Southern Ocean, which impacts glob ....Southern Ocean productivity and carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange under current and future climate regimes. This project will contribute to Australian ocean science expertise in key areas of data synthesis, satellite oceanography and the understanding of marine ecosystems' response to climate change. Collaborations will be developed and strengthened among Australian research institutions, and between Australia and the United States. The focus of the research is the Southern Ocean, which impacts global climate, and on which Australia's southern coastal ecosystems depend. The expertise and techniques developed will have application to other Australian regional seas.Read moreRead less
The Southern Ocean's response to abrupt climate change. This project aims to determine how the Southern Ocean responds to abrupt climate change, through geochemical analysis of marine sediment cores. Rapid warming events of the last ice age provide an analogue to human-caused warming. Experiments using ocean climate models will evaluate the drivers and consequences of the biogeochemical response of different sectors and zones of the Southern Ocean. The intended outcome is a better understanding ....The Southern Ocean's response to abrupt climate change. This project aims to determine how the Southern Ocean responds to abrupt climate change, through geochemical analysis of marine sediment cores. Rapid warming events of the last ice age provide an analogue to human-caused warming. Experiments using ocean climate models will evaluate the drivers and consequences of the biogeochemical response of different sectors and zones of the Southern Ocean. The intended outcome is a better understanding of how and why climate change impacts ocean productivity in the ecologically significant Southern Ocean. This will lead to better representations of carbon feedbacks in climate models and more robust projections of future climate change.Read moreRead less
Hot iron: Are submarine volcanoes important for Southern Ocean iron supply? The scarcity of iron limits biological productivity and carbon uptake in the nutrient rich waters of the Southern Ocean. This project will explore for the first time the role of undersea "hot spot" volcanoes in supplying iron to surface waters, thus linking the solid earth and the biosphere. The project will measure iron abundance, reactivity and nutritional value in buoyant plumes emanating from vents near Heard/McDonal ....Hot iron: Are submarine volcanoes important for Southern Ocean iron supply? The scarcity of iron limits biological productivity and carbon uptake in the nutrient rich waters of the Southern Ocean. This project will explore for the first time the role of undersea "hot spot" volcanoes in supplying iron to surface waters, thus linking the solid earth and the biosphere. The project will measure iron abundance, reactivity and nutritional value in buoyant plumes emanating from vents near Heard/McDonald Islands, Australia's only active volcanoes. The project aims to estimate the hydrothermal contribution to regional biological productivity and extrapolate to the whole Southern Ocean. Successful outcomes will benefit Australia by identifying iron sources that govern productivity and carbon uptake of an economically important ecosystem.Read moreRead less
Using the last glacial cycle to understand carbon-climate feedbacks . This project aims to investigate how the ocean’s carbon cycle will respond to anthropogenic climate change by examining its response to past climate variability. The project expects to generate new records of the dust feedback cycle and the microbial decomposition feedback cycle in the poorly studied Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Expected outcomes include new datasets to test climate models, and a new method to detect t ....Using the last glacial cycle to understand carbon-climate feedbacks . This project aims to investigate how the ocean’s carbon cycle will respond to anthropogenic climate change by examining its response to past climate variability. The project expects to generate new records of the dust feedback cycle and the microbial decomposition feedback cycle in the poorly studied Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Expected outcomes include new datasets to test climate models, and a new method to detect temperature-driven changes in microbial decomposition. This should lead to significant benefits including more accurate estimates of how much carbon humanity can safely emit, and the science to inform whether Australia should adopt ocean fertilisation as a strategy to combat climate change. Read moreRead less
Calcification and shell chemistry response of Southern Ocean planktic foraminifers to ocean acidification and changing climates. Plankton that form tiny calcium carbonate shells will be cultured to determine how they will respond to acidification of the Southern Ocean caused by rising CO2 in the atmosphere. The same experiments will be used to gauge from their fossil shells how the Southern Ocean has caused and responded to changing atmosphere CO2 over the last glacial climate cycle