Is ocean circulation the ultimate driver of biological carbon storage in the ocean?

Description

Marine phytoplankton play a crucial role in the carbon cycle and climate by locking dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the deep ocean away from the atmosphere. This process is called the Biological Pump and is an important natural reservoir of carbon in our Earth System. The latest IPCC Report concluded there is high confidence that feedbacks to climate will arise from alterations to the Biological Pump, but the precise processes driving these feedbacks are still uncertain. Although the Biological Pump involves ecological and biological processes that are widely expected to change significantly with climate change, a new analysis of IPCC future projections showed that the slowing down of ocean circulation in response to warming is a main driver of carbon storage by the Biological Pump in the coming century (Wilson et al., 2022).

Project Aims and Methods

The PhD aims to quantify the importance of ocean circulation in driving biological carbon storage by the Biological Pump. The student will initially use an intermediate complexity Earth System Model to run historical simulations and future projections and investigate the role of circulation on the Biological Pump during the present-day and in the future, and identify the key processes that control the response of the biological pump to a climate-induced changing circulation. The student will have freedom to then explore various research directions based on their interests such as: 1) Will ocean circulation continue to be the main driver beyond the 21st century and/or after net zero? 2) What are the main drivers of uncertainties in the Biological Pump in current IPCC projections? 3) What impact does a changing circulation have on proposed marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) techniques?

Training and Support

The student will receive direct training and support from the supervisory team in running Earth System Models as well as processing and analysing their outputs. This includes training in widely-used programming languages and high performance computing. The student will work within the lab-group of the “Predicting Biological Carbon in the Ocean Globally” project newly funded by UKRI, alongside the PI and research staff. The project provides opportunities to engage and collaborate with the National Oceanography Centre, the international research network JETZON, Universities of York and East Anglia, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL), and the AXA Research Fund. The student will be supported to present their research at (inter)national conferences. The student will be situated within the internationally-leading Ocean Sciences Research Group at Liverpool and benefit from being part of a large and active postgraduate cohort and research environment.

Candidate Requirements

Candidates should have an academic background from across any of the following areas: ocean, earth system, climate, environmental, or natural sciences. Additional experience, or a strong interest in developing skills in, programming and command-line environments such as Unix/Linux will be beneficial.

Supervisors: