The current rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels due to fossil fuel burning would be much faster were it not for both terrestrial and ocean CO2 sinks, which absorb about 50 % of the emissions (Denman et al., 2007). The ocean sink is the larger, and the North Atlantic and Southern Ocean are the most intense region of uptake. There is much scientific debate on how Anthropogenic CO2 (Canth, which can not directly be measured) invades the ocean, particularly the location of its uptake and storage. Observational programs are critical to provide additional insight into the global carbon cycle, and to validate and constrain future global circulation models and climatologies. Under the NERC Oceans_2025 programme aiming to increase our knowledge of marine environmental change, several hydrographic sections were conducted in the Atlantic Ocean from 2008 to 2010. Measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), alkalinity and transient tracers such as CFCs & SF6 have been made enabling a suite of Canth estimation techniques to be employed.

The Research: This studentship project is a unique opportunity to do an assessment of anthropogenic and natural carbon uptake and storage in the Atlantic Ocean for reference year 2010 using the 2008-2010 data set. First, you will estimate concentrations of Canth along the sections based on the carbon data and tracers data (Waugh et al., 2004). Second, you will combine those results with velocity fields in order to quantify the transport, uptake and storage of natural and anthropogenic carbon in the Atlantic Ocean. Finally, you will compare the resulting carbon transports and storage terms to independent estimates from inverse modelling (Gruber et al., 2009) and tracer-based transport modelling (Khatiwala et al., 2009).

Requirements and training opportunities:  We are seeking a self motivated, pro-active team player with an enthusiasm for oceanography and climate change.  The student will have at least a 2.1 honours degree in chemistry, mathematics, physics, computing, or a branch of environmental science with good numerical ability. He/she will participate in seagoing research and will be trained in marine tracers measurements. The student will be enrolled in the UEA Science Graduate School and will be encouraged to attend a summer school. She/he will collaborate with our Oceans_2025 partners from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), attend conferences and workshops at national and international levels.

Denman, K.L., Brasseur, G., Chidthaisong, A., Ciais, P., Cox, P.M., Dickinson, R.E., Hauglustaine, D., Heinze, C., Holland, E., Jacob, D., Lohmann, U., Ramachandran, S.,da Silva Dias, P.L., Wofsy, S.C. & Zhang, X., 2007. Couplings between changes in the climate system and biogeochemistry. In: Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.B., Tignor, M. & Miller, H.L. (eds.), Climate change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to theFourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 499-587. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter7.pdf

Gruber, N. , M. Gloor, S. E. Mikaloff Fletcher, S. Dutkiewicz, M. Follows, S. C. Doney, M. Gerber, A. R. Jacobson, K. Lindsay, D. Menemenlis, A. Mouchet, S. A. Mueller, J. L. Sarmiento, and T. Takahashi, Oceanic sources and sinks for atmospheric CO2, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 23, GB1005, doi:10.1029/2008GB003349, 2009.

Waugh, D.W., T. W. N. Haine, and Hall, T. M., Transport Times and Anthropogenic Carbon in the Subpolar North Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Res., 51, 1475-1491, 2004.

Khatiwala, S., F. Primeau and T. Hall (2009) Reconstruction of the history of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations in the ocean. Nature 462, 346-349 . doi:10.1038/nature08526.