Project description DEENESFRITPL Gaining insight into the ocean’s biological carbon pump Did you know that microscopic marine plants help the ocean to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it away in the deep ocean for decades to even centuries? This storage process is called the ocean’s biological carbon pump. The EU-funded CarbOcean project intends to gain a better understanding of the workings of this pump by integrating new observations of carbon carried by microscopic particles in the ocean with biogeochemical modeling. To this end, researchers will develop an autonomous robotic ocean profiler to simultaneously observe fluxes of particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate inorganic carbon (PIC), together with physico-chemical ocean parameters. Using data collected by such profilers in a wide variety of ocean environments, researchers will investigate POC and PIC production in the surface ocean and subsequent transfer through the dark ocean, and examine how these fluxes are interlinked. These unique observations will then be used to improve models of the biological carbon pump and gain better insights into the functioning of the pump. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The ocean’s biological carbon pump plays a crucial role in storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in the deep ocean, thereby isolating carbon from the atmosphere for decades to centuries. Yet, its capacity to do so is under-constrained and its mechanisms poorly understood. CarbOcean will develop a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of the biological carbon pump using a novel integrative approach that accounts for its two component pumps: (1) the organic carbon pump, which concerns the photosynthetic production of particulate organic carbon, POC, and (2) the carbonate pump, which concerns the production of particulate inorganic carbon, PIC. These pumps have opposite effects on the ocean-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide. I will nurture the development of a breakthrough autonomous robotic ocean profiler, uniquely capable of simultaneous observations of PIC and POC fluxes and physicochemical parameters from the well-lit surface ocean through the underlying twilight zone (roughly 100 – 1000 m depth) over a continuum of spatiotemporal scales. The robotic profilers will be deployed in a wide variety of oceanic environments and the collected data will allow investigation of links between the export and sequestration of POC and PIC, examination of pump interconnection, and detection of pump drivers. New parameterizations of carbon flux processes will be developed and implemented in a biogeochemical model. Lastly, the carbon flux data collected will be up-scaled to the global ocean using artificial intelligence approaches, thereby exploiting synergies among various observational platforms, including remote sensing. CarbOcean is a strongly interdisciplinary project, connecting fundamental and applied optical oceanography with biogeochemistry, carbonate chemistry, advanced statistics, and technological development that will allow a quantum leap in understanding the ocean’s biological carbon pump. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencenatural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryinorganic compoundsengineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringroboticsautonomous robotsnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesoceanographynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrybiogeochemistry Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2019-STG - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2019-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSITEIT GENT Net EU contribution € 1 997 651,00 Address SINT PIETERSNIEUWSTRAAT 25 9000 Gent Belgium See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen Arr. Gent Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 997 651,00 Beneficiaries (3) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITEIT GENT Belgium Net EU contribution € 1 997 651,00 Address SINT PIETERSNIEUWSTRAAT 25 9000 Gent See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Oost-Vlaanderen Arr. Gent Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 997 651,00 SORBONNE UNIVERSITE Participation ended France Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address 21 RUE DE L'ECOLE DE MEDECINE 75006 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost No data Third-party Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure. CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS Participation ended France Net EU contribution € 0,00 Address RUE MICHEL ANGE 3 75794 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost No data
