The role of the ocean in global change

The role of the ocean in global change

J.-P. VanderborghtULB, Océanographie Chimique et Géochimie des

Eaux (ULB-OCEAN)

Contributors• Royal Museum for Central Africa – Geology and

Mineralogy• Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science – MUMM• UA – Micro- and Trace Analysis Centre• UGent – Mariene Biologie• ULB – Ecologie des Systèmes Aquatiques• ULB – Laboratoire d’Océanographie Chimique et

Géochimie des Eaux• ULg – Laboratoire de Physique Atmosphérique et

Planétaire• ULg – Unité d’Océanographie Chimique• VUB – Laboratorium voor Analytische Scheikunde

Context

• During recent geological time, the ocean was a source of CO2 for the atmosphere.

• Following the modern increase of atmospheric CO2, the ocean acts now as a sink, with a net uptake of 2 to 3 gigatons of C per year.

• ~ 30 % of the total CO2 emitted by man has been transfered to the ocean.

Recent geological time scale

ATMOSPHERE

LAND OCEAN

burial: 280

erosionrivers

Corg 400

HCO3- : 400

280

uplift

520 520

ATMOSPHERE

LAND OCEAN

accumulation

3300 200

Anthropogenic fluxes

uptake2000 800

emissions7100 1100 1800 2000

???

Some key contributions

• Behaviour of nutrients in estuarine and coastal systems (N – P – Si )

• Direct measurement / modeling of CO2 exchange at the sea surface

• Evaluation of C fluxes in estuaries, coastal zones and the continental shelf, in the water column and in the sediments

• Evaluation of organic carbon fluxes along the continental margin and in the Southern ocean

• Role of siliceous and calcareous organisms

• Assessment of iron fertilisation in the Southern ocean

• Development of new tools: databases, indicators, models

• At the individual level: International Scientific Committees and Research Institutes, etc.

• At the institutional level:the role of MUMM at the interface between science and the society.

Belgian marine research: a long tradition of collaboration between

scientists and policy preparing fora