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Biogeochemistry

Time varying carbon sink and process attribution

A major result of the CARBOOCEAN and CARBOCHANGE EU projects, which the group coordinated / coordinates, was the finding that the ocean sink for human-produced carbon is undergoing remarkable changes on a basin-wide ocean scale on a timescale of only a few years.

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As CO2 is the major climate relevant trace gas in the atmosphere the behaviour of the ocean sink will have to be followed up also in the years to come. In particular there is a need for more research on the interior ocean (below the seasonally influenced layer) as most research on the carbon sink to date has focused on the surface ocean. Looking for and studying links between the changes already observed on the surface and changes we are beginning to observe in the interior ocean will be a key to further understanding the dynamics of the ocean carbon sink, The EU infrastructure activity ICOS will play a major role in this research and the group tries to attract a marine thematic centre for this.  We envision that this - combined with our continued efforts on global data syntheses - will furnish us with data sets enabling assessment of ocean carbon sink changes at large scales.  It is also desirable for the group (observationalists more than modellers who already do this) to work more globally instead of focusing only on regional understanding, while at the same time emphasizing that our particular region (i.e. the Nordic Seas/North Atlantic Ocean) is important globally.