Project description
A closer look at the impact of oceanic eddies
Small-scale processes wield immense influence on our climate, yet their intricacies remain poorly understood. Oceanic whirls, or eddies, serve as critical conduits for heat and carbon exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. These exchanges profoundly impact regional and global climate patterns, shaping everything from temperature and precipitation to marine biodiversity. In this context, the ERC-funded WHIRLS project focuses on the Agulhas Current System near South Africa, a hub of eddy activity and marine biodiversity. Through interdisciplinary research spanning scales from 1 km to 100 km, the project aims to unravel the complexities of these processes. By using advanced observation techniques and high-resolution modelling, WHIRLS seeks to enhance our understanding of fine-scale dynamics.
Objective
WHIRLS is about small processes having large-scale impacts. Heat and carbon are the currencies of regional and global climate, constantly exchanged between the ocean and the atmosphere. This exchange is strongly influenced by fine-scales ocean eddies—whirls—that flux heat and carbon towards, or away from, the air-sea interface. When the ocean gives up heat and carbon to the atmosphere, climate is warmer and wetter, and vice versa. Carbon that is fluxed towards the air-sea interface, where sunlight is available, can be taken up by phytoplankton that form the base of the oceanic food web. Eddies and fronts alter vertical nutrient fluxes and ocean stratification which help shape biodiversity and ecosystems. The proliferation of fine-scale processes, and their interdisciplinary and large-scale impacts are poorly understood. In WHIRLS we will use a synergistic and interdisciplinary approach to study fine-scale processes across a continuum of scales (1–100 km) and assess their impacts on air-sea exchange and marine biogeochemistry and biodiversity. We focus on the Agulhas Current System around South Africa because it is a global hotspot of eddy activity, ocean-atmosphere heat exchange, and marine productivity and diversity It is also a region that plays a key role for the global ocean circulation and global climate and climate change. We will use multiple coordinated observing strategies, including research vessels and a large ensemble of autonomous platforms, to collect physical, chemical, and biological datasets across scales. These data will be supplemented by high-resolution models of the ocean and the atmosphere, developed with a focus on the Agulhas Current System, as well as the latest data science methodologies. WHIRLS will improve the understanding of fine-scale processes and its representation in future earth system models for better predictions and projections of the future climate.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssimulation software
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrybiogeochemistry
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-SYG - HORIZON ERC Synergy GrantsHost institution
24148 Kiel
Germany