Welcome to OCB

The scientific mission of OCB is to study the evolving role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle, in the face of environmental variability and change through studies of marine biogeochemical cycles and associated ecosystems.

Overarching Themes

Improve understanding and prediction of:

  1. oceanic uptake and release of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases;
  2. environmental sensitivities of biogeochemical cycles, marine ecosystems, and interactions between the two   

Currently Identified Research Priorities

  • Ocean acidification
  • Terrestrial/coastal carbon fluxes and exchanges
  • Climate sensitivities of and change in ecosystem structure and associated impacts on biogeochemical cycles
  • Mesopelagic ecological and biogeochemical interactions
  • Benthic-pelagic feedbacks on biogeochemical cycles
  • Ocean carbon uptake and storage
  • Expanding low-oxygen conditions in the coastal and open oceans

Science Features

Submit your science features to the OCB Project Office.

Transregional Study Implicates Key Processes in Coastal Carbon Budgets

 

Zhaohui Aleck Wang and colleagues have published a comparative study of CO2 system parameters in coastal waters spanning from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. The study is based on measurements made along a series of cross-shelf transects during the summer 2007 Gulf of Mexico and East Coast Carbon (GOMECC) cruise, and has yielded important insights into the key biogeochemical and physical processes controlling coastal carbon dynamics and sensitivities of seawater carbonate chemistry to coastal ocean acidification in these regions. These important results will also contribute to an ongoing national coastal carbon synthesis activity that is being coordinated by OCB and the North American Carbon Program (NACP).

 

BIOS Scientists Mark 25 Years of Sargasso Sea Research

The R/V Atlantic Explorer. Photo by Tiffany Wardman.

Sam Monk, BATS Research Technician, taking an oxygen sample from the CTD aboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer. Photo by Andrew Collins.
Bermuda, February 1, 2013 - Ali Hochberg (BIOS Communications & Education Coordinator)

Since October 1988, scientists have been sampling the deep ocean waters of the Sargasso Sea as part of the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) project, with 2013 marking the program’s 25th year of continuous operation by the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS).

A recent paper published in the journal Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography provides an overview of the project’s scientific findings under a team of scientists led by Dr. Nicholas Bates (BIOS), Dr. Rodney Johnson (BIOS) and Dr. Michael Lomas (Bigelow Laboratory).

The authors note that, “With 25 years of measurements for most chemical, physical, and biological water properties, we have moved beyond descriptions of seasonal and year-to-year variability” to addressing long-standing scientific questions about the Sargasso Sea, including:

  • Why is there a discrepancy between the biological and geochemical estimates of carbon export production?
  • What supports the seasonal drawdown of carbon dioxide in the absence of detectable nutrients?
  • What are the sources of the elevated nitrate to phosphate ratio in the seasonal thermocline?

Recent BATS data helps shed light on these scientific questions and makes significant strides in improving scientists’ understanding of the processes and mechanisms that control biogeochemical cycles in the North Atlantic Ocean.

 

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

nsf nasa

 

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