Author Archive for hbenway – Page 3

mCDR Networking Event during 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting

Posted by hbenway 
· Friday, January 12th, 2024 

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) has exploded in popularity this Ocean Sciences Meeting. Are you curious and want to learn more? Are you thinking about engaging in an mCDR research project? Want to partner with industry or learn what’s happening in the environmental NGO space? Join co-hosts Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry (OCB), Carbon to Sea, Exploring Ocean Iron Solutions (ExOIS), [C]Worthy, and Ocean Visions for an mCDR networking event on Monday, February 19 from 6:30-9:30 pm at the Audubon Aquarium (1 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA). All are welcome to come by for a few minutes, an hour, or the whole evening to peruse the mCDR landscape. The sponsoring organizations will offer welcome and introductory remarks at the beginning, and then we will mingle over food and beverage! We aim to convene a diverse group of multisector stakeholders to share information and explore new collaborations. Hope to see you there!

Reserve your ticket to the event here.

Hurry, space is limited!

Biogeochemical Observing and Modeling Workshop: Connecting Observations to Models (Mini-workshop at OSM2024!)

Posted by hbenway 
· Monday, January 8th, 2024 

Save the date: Thursday, February 22, 12-2 pm 

2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting – Convention Center Room 224

Join Federal Program Managers to share what you think are the grand challenges facing the Biogeochemical Observing and Modeling Communities and discuss opportunities for improved connectivity between observing and modeling efforts.

Biogeochemical observing networks and models are developing at an unprecedented pace. This workshop will provide space for biogeochemical modelers and observers to make connections, ensure observing networks are addressing critical modeling data needs, and inform federal research priorities. Participants will split into topical or regional groups and move between tables to discuss what data are currently available for models and what data and data products will be needed in the future. Workshop outcomes may include a report on regional observing data gaps and recommended improvements to data products that feed into biogeochemical models.

Please indicate your interest in attending this workshop by responding to this short google form

Reach out to the organizers with any questions: Erica Ombres, Liza Wright-Fairbanks (NOAA Ocean Acidification Program), Alyse Larkin (NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring & Observing Program)

Next GO-BGC Webinar – Carbon Export Dynamics

Posted by hbenway 
· Monday, January 8th, 2024 

January 31, 2024 at 10 am PST/1 pm EST

Register HERE

SPEAKERS

Ellen Park (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Title: Quantifying biological carbon pump parameters from the global Biogeochemical Argo float array

Abstract: The ocean is a large sink for carbon dioxide and thus plays an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate. This uptake occurs at the air-sea interface through a combination of physical and biological processes, which are commonly referred to as carbon pumps. The biological carbon pump (BCP) transfers carbon against its concentration gradient via the sinking and transport of particulate organic matter that is produced in the surface ocean. In the modern ocean, the BCP is thought to remove an estimated 6-12 Pg C from the surface ocean annually, which is approximately equivalent to total annual anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. The magnitude and variability of the BCP’s drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide have large uncertainties due to limited measurements across both space and time and the fact that the ocean has varying ecosystem compositions and physical dynamics. Here, we leverage floats with optical backscatter sensors from the global Biogeochemical Argo float array to quantify BCP metrics across different biomes in the global ocean. The particulate backscatter signals can be decomposed into a large, fast sinking particle signal and small, slower sinking particle one. These values are used to estimate BCP metrics such as particulate matter attenuation coefficients and transfer efficiencies. Quantifying these metrics across time and biomes is important for reducing uncertainties in the BCP, improving model parameterizations, and ultimately better constraining the global carbon cycle.   

Adam Stoer (Dalhousie University)

Title: Estimating marine phytoplankton biomass and productivity from Biogeochemical-Argo floats

Abstract: Knowledge on the biomass and productivity of ocean phytoplankton is fundamental to our understanding of life on Earth. Phytoplankton are autotrophic microbes at the base of the marine food web, that, through photosynthesis, produce organic matter that sustains higher trophic organisms. In this talk, I estimate the biomass and productivity of phytoplankton by using the fleet of Biogeochemical-Argo floats. In the first part of my talk, I describe a method for estimating net primary productivity using daily cycles of particulate carbon constructed from float profiles distributed across the ocean. This method provides depth-resolved estimates of productivity that are representative of large swathes of ocean, and which are comparable to satellite models. In the second part of this talk, I use the global array of floats to estimate Earth’s stock of phytoplankton biomass, as well as their seasonal and geographic distribution. I also compare the seasonal cycles between carbon biomass stocks and chlorophyll-a concentrations at the surface, a metric commonly-used as a proxy for biomass, and show how surface chlorophyll-a cannot accurately identify the timing of the peak annual bloom in three-quarters of the ocean. Using these observations, I demonstrate how the Biogeochemical-Argo array can provide a more accurate, holistic view of ocean phytoplankton ecology.

New paper published by OCB Ocean Carbonate System Intercomparison Forum (OCSIF)

Posted by hbenway 
· Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024 

Carter, B.R., Sharp, J.D., Dickson, A.G., Álvarez, M., Fong, M.B., García-Ibáñez, M.I., Woosley, R.J., Takeshita, Y., Barbero, L., Byrne, R.H., Cai, W.-J., Chierici, M., Clegg, S.L., Easley, R.A., Fassbender, A.J., Fleger, K.L., Li, X., Martín-Mayor, M., Schockman, K.M. and Wang, Z.A. (2023), Uncertainty sources for measurable ocean carbonate chemistry variables. Limnol Oceanogr. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12477

Learn more about OCSIF here.

OCB Operational Phytoplankton Observations WG to convene town hall at OSM2024

Posted by hbenway 
· Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024 

OSM Town Hall, Friday February 23rd 2024, 12:45 - 13:45 CST

Convention Center, Room: R02-R03, Second Floor

Building a Community of Practice for the Collection and Assessment of Operational Phytoplankton Observations 

The number of particle imaging instruments (PII) for quantifying and identifying phytoplankton in aquatic environments has grown over the last decade. PIIs are poised to revolutionize our understanding of planktonic ecosystems and will allow us to effectively monitor global changes over time. Each PII and sampling method has inherent limitations associated with the detection and imaging of particles, and the environment being sampled. Such standards have been established for optical and biochemical measurements, many of which have been reported in a series of protocol  documents, including the IOCCG Protocols for Satellite Ocean Colour Sensor Validation. The OCB Operational Phytoplankton Observations (OPO) working group was formed to develop a set of best practices for both the collection and downstream processing of phytoplankton images produced by PIIs that will result in consistent, quantitative observations of phytoplankton taxonomy and biomass. 

Our goal for this Town Hall will be to provide a space and framework for discussion around emerging topics related to best practices when using PIIs through interactive breakout groups.

Potential discussion topics:

  • Data and derived products
  • Imaging data management and sharing
  • Operational considerations for imaging instrument deployment
  • Uncertainties in imaging data

RSVP here by Friday February 16th to help us gauge numbers and help us refine the discussion topics.

 

Register for the next BECS Webinar

Posted by hbenway 
· Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 

The OCB Benthic Ecosystem & Carbon Synthesis (BECS) are hosting a webinar!

WHEN
November 28, 2023, 10:00-11:00 AM EST

SPEAKERS
Chris Somes (GEOMAR) - The impact of reductive sedimentary iron release on changing ocean biogeochemistry simulations of the Anthropocene

Kanchan Maiti (LSU) - Oxygen and carbon dynamics in Mississippi river influenced shelf sediments

REGISTER

Learn more about the BECS Working Group

When it comes to carbon export, the mesoscale matters

Posted by hbenway 
· Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 

Figure 1. Difference in annual mean carbon export (ΔPOC flux) between a high resolution (0.1º, Hi-res) and standard resolution (1º, Analog) global climate model simulation using the CESM model. Highlighted regions show areas where vertical (purple boxes) and horizontal (red boxes) changes in nutrient transport drive increases or decreases in export, respectively.

Most Earth System models (ESMs) that are used to study global climate and the carbon cycle do not resolve the most energetic scales in the ocean, the mesoscale (10-100 km), encompassing eddies, coastal jets, and other dynamic features strongly affecting nutrient delivery, productivity, and carbon export. This prompts the question: What are we missing in climate models by not resolving the mesoscale?

Authors of a recent study published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles conducted a comparative analysis of the importance of mesoscale features in biological production and associated carbon export using standard resolution (1°) and mesoscale-resolving (0.1°) ESM simulations. The mesoscale-resolving ESM yielded only a ~2% reduction in globally integrated export production relative to the standard resolution ESM. However, a closer look at the local processes driving export in different basins revealed much larger, compensating differences (Fig. 1). For example, in regions where biological production is driven by natural iron fertilization from shelf sediment sources (Fig. 2), improved representation of coastal jets in the higher-resolution ESM reduces the cross-shelf iron delivery that fuels production (red boxes in Fig. 1). Resolving mesoscale turbulence further reduces the spatial extent of blooms and associated export, yielding a more patchy distribution than in the coarse resolution models. Together, these processes lead to a reduction in export in the Argentine Basin, one of the most productive regions on the planet, of locally up to 50%. In contrast, resolving the mesoscale results in enhanced export production in the Subantarctic (purple box in Fig. 1), where the mesoscale model resolves deeper, narrower mixed layer depths that support stronger nutrient entrainment, in turn enhancing local productivity and export.

Figure 2. An iron-driven plankton bloom structured by mesoscale features in the South Atlantic. Left is simulated dissolved iron (Fe), the limiting nutrient for this region, and right is iron in all phytoplankton classes, a proxy for biomass (phytoFe, shown in log10 scale), on January 11, the height of the bloom. Plankton blooms in the Subantarctic Atlantic are fueled by horizontal iron transport off coastal and island shelves and vertical injection from seamounts, whereas farther south in the Southern Ocean, winter vertical mixing is the primary driver of iron delivery. Mesoscale circulation, largely an unstructured mix of interacting jets and vortices, strongly affects the location and timing of carbon production and export. Click here for an animation.

In regions with very short productivity seasons like the North Pacific and Subantarctic, internally generated mesoscale variability (captured in the higher resolution ESM) yields significant interannual variation in local carbon export. In these regions, a few eddies, filaments or more amorphous mesoscale features can structure the entire production and export pattern for the short bloom season. These findings document the importance of resolving mesoscale features in ESMs to more accurately quantify carbon export, and the different roles mesoscale variability can play in different oceanographic settings.

Determining how to best sample these mesoscale turbulence-dominated blooms and scale up these measurements to regional and longer time means, is an outstanding joint challenge for modelers and observationalists. A key piece is obtaining the high temporal and spatial resolution data sets needed for validating modeled carbon export in bloom regions strongly impacted by mesoscale dynamics, which represent a large portion of the global carbon export.

Authors
Cheryl Harrison (NCAR, University of Colorado Boulder)
Matthew Long (NCAR)
Nicole Lovenduski (University of Colorado Boulder)
J. Keith Moore (University of California Irvine)

Elusive protists transport large quantities of silica into the ocean interior

Posted by hbenway 
· Friday, September 7th, 2018 

Phaeodaria are single-celled eukaryotes (a.k.a. protists) belonging to the supergroup Rhizaria. Like diatoms, phaeodarians build up skeletons made of opaline silica, but unlike their emblematic relatives, phaeodarians have been largely ignored in the marine silica cycle.

The contribution of phaeodarians to total biogenic silica (bSiO2) export is markedly enhanced at low total bSiO2 export (analysis did not include data from 2014 due to abnormally depleted phaeodarian population).

In a recent study published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles (also see related Research Spotlight in AGU Eos), authors used a combination of extensive sediment trap deployments and in situ imagery during four cruises of the California Current Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (CCE-LTER) Program off the coast of California to quantify biogenic silica export mediated by giant phaeodarians (>600 µm). These data revealed that giant phaeodarians possess among the highest recorded cellular silica content (up to 43 µg Si cell-1). In addition, measurements of vertical fluxes suggest that these organisms can play a surprisingly large role in silica export (ranging from 10-80% of total silica export) in more oligotrophic waters. Also, because they are most abundant in waters below the euphotic zone, phaeodarians contribute to increased biogenic silica flux in the mesopelagic, in contrast with typically observed decreases in carbon flux with depth. Given their significant contribution to silica export, phaeodarians should be considered in global budgets and models of ocean silica cycles, especially in oligotrophic waters.

Authors
Tristan Biard (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
Jeffrey W. Krause (University of Southern Alabama)
Michael R. Stukel (Florida State University)
Mark D. Ohman (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)

Ocean’s heat cycle shows that atmospheric carbon may be headed elsewhere

Posted by hbenway 
· Thursday, August 16th, 2018 

Studies over the past 25 years have supported the existence of a large net land biosphere CO2 sink of 0.5–2 PgC yr-1. Significant uncertainties remain, however, regarding the long-term partitioning between northern, tropical, and southern land sinks, in part connected to the uncertain ocean carbon sink. These uncertainties limit our capacity to predict earth system response to anthropogenic changes and design effective mitigation strategies.

Land sinks from atmospheric inversion (1990-2010 average) with two different ocean/river fluxes: (top) previous ocean inversion-based carbon fluxes; and (bottom) updated pCO2-based air-sea flux with a scaled-up river flux of 0.78 PgC /yr.

In a recent study published in Nature Geoscience, Resplandy et al. (2018) used models and field observations to demonstrate that the world’s oceans transport heat between the northern and southern hemispheres in the same way that carbon is transported. The transport of heat, however, is easier to observe. By tracking this heat, they showed that the Southern Ocean — while still a substantial carbon sink —may not take up as much carbon as previously thought, and that ocean currents might transport 20 to 100% more carbon from the northern to the southern hemisphere. To maintain this additional transport of carbon, they showed that the amount of carbon entering the ocean from rivers may be as much as 70% higher than estimated in previous global carbon budget studies. These changes in the ocean and river carbon transport imply that up to 40% of the world’s atmospheric carbon absorbed by land ecosystems needs to be reallocated from existing estimates.

Authors
L. Resplandy, Princeton University
Ralph Keeling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography/ UCSD
Christian Rödenbeck, Max Planck Institute
Briton Stephens, NCAR
Matthew Long, NCAR
Samar Khatiwala, University of Oxford
Keith Rodgers, Princeton University
Laurent Bopp, ENS Paris
Pieter Tans, NOAA’s ESRL

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